The legislation was sponsored by State Senator Liz Krueger, a progressive Democrat from Manhattan’s East Side. It would have allowed “all federal circuit court of appeals judges and all Federal District Court judges” to preside over nuptials.

As for Mr. Cuomo’s veto message, Ms. Krueger told my colleague Jesse McKinley, “I do not think the reasoning made sense.”

Ms. Krueger, like many Democrats in New York, has vocally criticized the Trump administration and the conservatives that Mr. Trump has appointed to the bench. But, she added, “I’m not sure my moral outrage extends to refusing them the right to perform weddings.”

The precedent

New York legalized same-sex marriage in 2011, Mr. Cuomo’s first year as governor. It was the sixth and largest state to do so.

But New York was the last state in the union to allow no-fault divorces.

Most counties in New York allow practically anyone to officiate weddings. All someone has to do is get ordained online. That is what the singer Lady Gaga did. And the actress Fran Drescher. And my friend Brian Short. (So, an out-of-state judge appointed by Mr. Trump could simply get ordained.)

In 2018, New York even granted the power to officiate weddings to all 213 members of the State Legislature.

A personal history

Mr. Cuomo and Kerry Kennedy broke up after more than a decade of marriage, following his failed run for governor in 2002.