A bill would allow mayors to officiate at weddings.

Senate Bill 992 was sponsored by freshman Democratic Sen. Don Davis, the former mayor of Snow Hill, N.C.

The Senate had little debate on the issue, though Sen. Jim Forrester said that he had hoped to add an amendment that would have put a constitutional ban on gay marriage up for a statewide referendum.

Forrester filed a separate bill on the gay-marriage ban that Senate leadership essentially killed by leaving it in committee.

"If we don't get it in the constitution, I'm afraid it's going to happen to us just like Vermont," he said.

The bill passed 35-9 and now heads to the House.

Several other bills this session have also sought to expand who can perform weddings. One already signed into law by Gov. Beverly Perdue, allows Superior Court judges to officiate.

Another bill stuck in a House committee would have allowed any judge, while a third would allow retired judges. A Senate bill to allow any judge passed and is now before a House committee.

"A nonlawyer sitting on the highest court in the land? Is that even allowed?" — Greensboro News-Record columnist Doug Clark

Yes, for the U.S. Supreme Court; no, for the North Carolina one.

Article IV of the North Carolina constitution states that "only persons duly authorized to practice law" in state courts may be eligible to be elected or appointed state judges.

The N.C. Board of Law Examiners determines who can practice law. It requires that students graduate from a law school approved the N.C. State Bar, provide proof of "good moral character" and pass the bar exam, or have practiced law in another state.

"The main requirement is that you have to graduate from an ABA-approved law school," said Tammy Jackson, a spokeswoman for the State Bar.

Article III of the U.S. Constitution, however, states only that judges shall "hold their offices during good behavior."

It does not list any formal educational requirements, although every person nominated to the Court to date has been a lawyer and nearly two-thirds have been judges.

UNC-Chapel Hill law professor Bill Marshall said that Supreme Court justices handle a lot of technical legal issues.

"You don't have to be a lawyer to be a Supreme Court justice, but I think you probably need to be a this point," he said.

Have a question? E-mail dome@newsobserver.com or post a comment below.

Who polled for the N.C. Family Policy Council?

The conservative advocacy group today announced the results of a recent poll on gay marriage done by Advantage Inc. 

The Arlington, Va.-based company has been described by the Washington Post as a "national political, fundraising and direct-marketing firm" that works for Republicans. 

Its Web site describes its specialties as get-out-the-vote efforts, online town halls, automated messaging and survey research.

The Family Policy Council of West Virginia released the results of a similar poll on gay marriage in October.

A company spokesman would not give further information about the poll, citing a policy against discussing any work done for clients. 

Another poll on gay marriage found high levels of opposition.

A poll by the N.C. Family Policy Council, a socially conservative advocacy group, found that 73 percent of those surveyed supported adding a ban on gay marriage to the state constitution.

Seventeen percent opposed the amendment and 10 percent were undecided.

"We commissioned this survey, first of all, because we wanted to determine the level of support for the Marriage Protection Amendment among registered voters in North Carolina," said council president Bill Brooks in a statement.

The results are in line with previous polls, which have found high levels of support when the question asks about adding a definition of marriage to the constitution, but more of a split when the wording notes this would outlaw same-sex marriage.

The Family Policy Council had questioned a recent survey by the Elon University Poll that used the more results-oriented wording.

The live survey of 5,009 registered voters was conducted on Feb. 26, 2009, by Advantage Inc. of Arlington, Va. The margin of error was not released.

After the jump, the questions.

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A resolution would honor the 10th Amendment.

Rep. George Cleveland, an Onslow County Republican, filed the House resolution out of frustration at what he views as the federal government's usurpation of the state's powers.

In particular, Cleveland said he's frustrated by federal funding, such as the recent stimulus package, that comes with "strings attached" — in other words, clauses that direct how the state must spend the money.

He said he would prefer the state reject the federal help, but at the least he thinks it should object to the practice in principle.

"It's time for the states to start telling the federal government that they don't run us," he said. "We run our own states." 

The resolution says that the constitution created the federal government to be "an agent of the states," but today the states are "demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government."

It supports the state's "right to claim sovereignty" under the 10th Amendment.

A bill would make state statutes gender-neutral.

Sen. Richard Stevens, a Cary Republican, said he filed the legislation after an earlier bill of his was criticized for a masculine pronoun.

That bill, which named the head of the State Board of Education, was held up when Republican state Rep. Laura Wiley objected to its use of the word "him" when describing Gov. Beverly Perdue. 

It was then rewritten to be gender-neutral.

"Bottom line, this bill would do that for the entire state," Stevens said.

The new proposal calls for the state General Statutes Commission to recommend any changes in pronouns to the state constitution or laws by 2010.

An existing state law already says that any reference to a "he" should be read as "he or she" for legal purposes.

A bill to ban gay marriage in the state constitution cited the Civitas poll.

The House version of the Defense of Marriage Act this year includes among its clauses a reference to polling on the issue done by the conservative think tank.

Whereas, in statewide poll numbers released May 20, 2008, by the John William Pope Civitas Institute, 71% of North Carolina voters support the passage of a State Marriage Amendment, while 26% are opposed. Among African-American voters, support for the marriage amendment was at 86% ...

That whereas has since been undermined, however.

A survey by the Elon University Poll released today showed that 50 percent of North Carolinians oppose a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Hat Tip: Lisa Grafstein

An earlier Elon poll used much different wording.

The Elon University Poll survey in 2004 showed much more opposition to gay marriage than a recent survey, 64 percent then to 47 percent now.

But the earlier poll was worded much differently.

For one, it asked if people would support "a law allowing homosexual couples to marry, giving them the same legal rights as married couples."

Sixty-four percent said no, and 26 percent said yes.

In a separate question, it asked if people would support "a law allowing homosexual couples to form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples in areas such as health insurance, inheritance, and pension coverage.

Forty-eight percent said no, and 44 percent said yes.

The live poll of 685 North Carolinians was taken Feb. 16-19, 2004. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.74 percentage points.

After the jump, the questions.

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An earlier Elon poll showed more opposition to gay marriage.

A 2004 survey by the Elon University Poll showed roughly the same level of support for gay marriage but much more opposition than a recent survey.

From a press release:

North Carolinians were closely divided about legalizing civil unions among homosexual couples. Forty-four percent said they support the idea, while 48 percent were opposed.

Divisions were more pronounced concerning legalizing gay marriages. Only 26 percent favored the idea, while 64 percent were opposed. Fifty-seven percent said they supported a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as occurring only between a man and a woman, while 34 percent were opposed.

The poll questions were not immediately available, though the wording of the press release is much different from the recent survey.

In addition, gay marriage was a hot topic in the 2004 elections.

Few subjects are as tricky to poll as gay marriage.

Elon University Poll head Hunter Bacot said that he was very careful when coming up with questions about same-sex marriage for a recent poll.

He said that answers can differ depending on whether the pollster asks about "gay marriage," "same-sex marriage," or "homosexual marriage." Earlier questions about "gay and lesbian rights" can also frame the issue differently.

The three questions that Bacot came up with first tested people's underlying principles, then asked about an amendment, then gave them information about state laws.

He deliberately avoided using the words "gays and lesbians" anywhere in the questions or the word "ban" to describe the amendment (instead saying it would "prevent" same-sex marriages).

"I think the terminology can make a difference," he said. "When you mix-and-match the terminology, it can evoke different things."

Correction: An earlier version of this post said that Elon had not polled this issue before. It has polled gay marriage, but not an amendment.