The Supreme Court of Connecticut heard an appeal by the plaintiffs in "Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health" on May 14, 2007. On October 10, 2008, the court released an opinion guaranteeing marriage rights to same-sex couples. The court ruled 4–3 that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violated the equality and liberty provisions of the Connecticut Constitution. The court also held that it would be unconstitutional to relegate same-sex couples to a status less than full marriage by enacting legislation treating same-sex unions as civil unions rather than marriage: