state employees. February 4, 2005: State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan rules that New York City could not deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, based on the Equal Protection Clause of the New York Constitution. The order was stayed for 30 days, pending an appeal. (The Supreme Court is a trial-level court in New York, and the decision could be appealed either to the Appellate Division or directly to the Court of Appeals.) December 8, 2005: The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court overturns Ling-Cohan's decision. July 6, 2006: The Court of Appeals in its Hernández v. Robles decision declines to judicially mandate the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York. The Court's ruling stated that same-sex partners did not have the right to marry under the New York Constitution. May 2007 : A Massachusetts trial court judge rules that marriage licenses obtained by New York same-sex couples prior to the Hernandez v. Robles decision are valid under Massachusetts law. As a result, these couples' marriages are also valid under New York State law. June 19, 2007: The Democrat-controlled New York State Assembly approves Governor Spitzer's bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, in an 85–61 vote. The bill moves to the Republican-controlled Senate; Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno said it would not be voted upon in that chamber this year. January 9, 2008: Governor Spitzer's bill to legalize same-sex marriage dies in the New York State Senate and is returned to the New York State Assembly. February 1, 2008: In Martinez v. County of Monroe, the Appellate Division, Fourth Department rules that a same-sex marriage in Canada should be recognized in New York, because out-of-state opposite-sex marriages that would not have been legal in New York nonetheless are recognized unless such recognition would violate the public policy of the state. The Appellate Division holds that the same treatment must be applied to out-of-state same-sex marriages, but the ruling could be overturned on a finding that same-sex marriage violates New York's public policy. The decision reverses a trial judge's 2006 ruling that Monroe Community College did not have to extend health benefits to an employee's same-sex spouse. March 12, 2008: Eliot Spitzer resigns his position as Governor of New York. March 17, 2008: Following Spitzer's resignation, David Alexander Paterson (then Lieutenant Governor of New York) is sworn in as the 55th Governor of New York at the