prop 8

Cali Supreme Court Proposition 8 -- ORDER BEGINS AT PAGE 3 OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.  The Cali Supreme Court Proposition 8 Cases site is @
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/highprofile/prop8.htm

"The California Supreme Court today denied requests to stay the enforcement or implementation of Proposition 8, and at the same time agreed to decide several issues arising out of the passage of Proposition 8. 

The court’s order, issued in the first three cases that had been filed directly in the state’s highest court challenging the validity of Proposition 8, directed the parties to brief and argue three issues:

(1) Is Proposition 8 invalid because it constitutes a revision of, rather than
an amendment to, the California Constitution?

(2) Does Proposition 8 violate the separation-of-powers doctrine under
the California Constitution?

(3) If Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, what is its effect, if any, on
the marriages of same-sex couples performed before the adoption of Proposition 8?

The court issued its order in three cases filed on behalf of a variety of parties, including same-sex couples who seek to enter into marriage despite the passage of Proposition 8, a same-sex couple who married in California prior to the adoption of Proposition 8, and a number of cities and counties whose officials seek to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Petitioners in each of these cases seek an order directing the relevant state officials to refrain from implementing, enforcing, or applying Proposition 8.

In response to the petitions, the Attorney General filed a preliminary opposition, in which he
urged the court to assume jurisdiction over these cases to decide the important legal issues
presented, but also argued that the court should not stay the operation of Proposition 8
pending the court’s resolution of the issues.

The proponents of Proposition 8 also responded to the petitions, seeking to intervene as formal parties in the action and also urging the court to accept the cases for decision. The court’s order granted the motion to intervene filed by the proponents of Proposition 8.

In its order, the court established an expedited briefing schedule, under which briefing will be completed in January 2009 and oral argument potentially could be held as early as March 2009.

Six justices—Chief Justice Ronald M. George, Justice Marvin R. Baxter, Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar, Justice Ming W. Chin, Justice Carlos R. Moreno, and Justice Carol A. Corrigan—signed the court’s order, although Justice Moreno indicated that he would grant the requests to stay the operation of Proposition 8 pending the court’s resolution of these matters.

Justice Joyce L. Kennard would deny these petitions without prejudice to the filing in the Supreme Court of an appropriate action to determine Proposition 8’s effect, if any, on the marriages of same-sex couples performed before Proposition 8’s adoption."

[For additional information, visit  Calif. High Court To Consider Legal Challenges To Same-Sex Marriage Ban - ACSBLOG:  The California Supreme Court will hear legal challenges to the anti-gay marriage ballot measure approved by voters on Election Day. The state’s top court in a 2-page order said it would determine whether the ballot measure, which bans same-sex marriage, is an improper revision of the state’s constitution...Constitution cannot be enacted through a simple majority vote, but must first be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature.”]