Tag: Prop 8

The ACLU has published a handy resource guide, After DOMA: What it Means for You.

Implementation of federal rights, benefits, and protections will vary from state to state and on an individual basis.

The Supreme Court's decision in Windsor v United States is here. The ACLU says: [More...]

Update: The 9th Circuit has affirmed the lower court's ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. The 128 page opinion is here.

The 2-1 decision found the ban -- known as Proposition 8 -- "served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationship and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples." That violates the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law, the decision states

The 9th Circuit's oral arguments on Prop 8 and gay marriage are being televised on C-Span. You can watch here.

The panel will first consider if the group that put the measure on the ballot is eligible to appeal since its members aren't responsible for enforcing marriage laws. Outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown refused to challenge the ruling. The panel will then hear arguments on the proposition's constitutionality.

Howard Mintz of the San Jose Mercury News is live-blogging from the courtroom. So is Teddy at Firedoglake.

A three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday put gay marriages on ice pending an appeal of the trial court's decision overturning Prop 8.

The panel's decision gave no explanation for staying Walker's order directing the state to once again allow same-sex couples to marry.

The panel said the court would hear the Proposition 8 challenge on an expedited basis and hold arguments the week of Dec. 6. Another panel of three judges is expected to rule on the appeal.

Some proponents of gay marriage think stay order may actually help in the long run. [More...]

Update: Here's the opinion (pdf. How Appealing has uploaded it here.

Update: "A divided California Supreme Court today let stand Proposition 8, continuing marriage discrimination in California. The Court refused to undo the 18,000 marriages that same-sex couples celebrated in 2008, so that those couples remain married even while other California couples are, for now, barred from joining in marriage." [More...]

The California Supreme Court will issue its long-awaited decision on gay marriage today. Some recent news coverage:

• Hundreds pray on eve of Prop 8 ruling
• Weariness and confidence as foes and backers of Proposition 8 await court ruling
  
• California Supreme Court to issue same-sex marriage decision today
• Gay-Marriage Fight to Persist in California
• California Couples Await Gay Marriage Ruling

Predictions, anyone?

The California Supreme Court is holding oral arguments on Prop 8 and gay marriage today.

You can watch the hearings live on the web here.

The court will hear three hours of arguments and have 90 days to issue an opinion. If it overturns the ban, gay couples would again be permitted to marry in California.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown reversed course today and asked the California Supreme Court to find Prop 8 unconstitutional.

Brown, who is required to defend state laws unless he cannot find reasonable legal grounds to do so, said after Prop. 8 passed Nov. 4 that he would support the initiative before the state's high court.

"Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification," Brown said. The authors of the state Constitution, he said, did not intend "to put a group's right to enjoy liberty to a popular vote."

The pro-Prop 8 group filed its brief today as well. Their chief counsel? Kenneth Starr.