New Jersey Marriage Decision available: Not A Win, But Not A Complete Loss Either

It is a pretty long decision. (90 pages) It appears to be close to the Vermont Baker decision, where the Supreme Court states that the Givernement should treat similarly situated same-sex couples equally, but is NOT saying that the civil institution called "marriage" must be opened up immediately (which is what the Massachusetts' Goodridge decision said, with a 6 month delay).

The New Jersey decision (pdf available here) gives the Legislature a similar deadline:

The constitutional relief that we give to plaintiffs cannot
be effectuated immediately or by this Court alone. The
implementation of this constitutional mandate will require the
cooperation of the Legislature. To bring the State into
compliance with Article I, Paragraph 1 so that plaintiffs can
exercise their full constitutional rights, the Legislature must
either amend the marriage statutes or enact an appropriate
statutory structure within 180 days of the date of this
decision.

Basically they are saying "you can have all the rights and responsibilities" of marriage, but you have to call it a civil union. But the problem with civil unions is that in the American federal structure there is no way that a "separate but equal" instititution can be created which obviates this discrimination against same-sex couples and their families.

UPDATE: Note that three Justices (including Chief Justice Poritz) wanted marriage equality immediately, but four Justices want to punt to the Legislature, with strict instructions to eliminate discrimination and an admonition that the current New Jersey Domestic Partnership statute doesn't pass legal muster.