The need for open proceedings is particularly compelling where an agency of the executive branch of government seeks to persuade the judicial branch of government to withdraw life support. Decisions of this gravity, made with...

Simply put, given the enormity of the rights and responsibilities that accompany marriage, Massachusetts has a rational and substantial interest in ensuring that the marriages it creates will be recognized as valid outside its borders.

(The state) has a significant interest in not meddling in matters in which another state, the one where a couple actually resides, has a paramount interest.

The laws of this commonwealth have not endowed non-residents with an unfettered right to marry. Only non-resident couples who come to Massachusetts and intend to reside in this commonwealth thereafter can be issued a marriage...