“The State does not, and cannot under the Constitution, regulate or preclude a religious ceremony or deed, including religious marriages.”
It can and it does. Back when same sex marriage was illegal it tried to prosecute ministers whose churches had no problem with same-sex marriages.
“It was overturned as an infringement of the First Amendment.”
Wrong. The final decision by the Appeals Court was on a technicality.
“It involved government benefits to a disabled individual and had they legally married they would have lost those benefits they needed to live”
Unfortunately that means that they would be defrauding the government. That is both asur and a felony under civil law.
“you are also mistaken in asserting that judicial consent is rarely given to minors under 16 years of age”
I think you just proved my point. That year there were 131,515 marriages in New York State; four of them required such judicial approval.