Legal News

Couples File Challenge to California?s Proposition 8

By Ashby Jones

That didn’t take long. Opponents of California’s Proposition 8, which was approved by the voters on Tuesday, earlier today filed a legal challenge directly with the state’s Supreme Court to keep Prop. 8 from taking effect. Here are stories from the LA Times and SF Chronicle; click here for an earlier LB post on Prop. 8.

According to the LA Times, lawyers for same-sex couples said they will argue that the anti-gay-marriage measure was an illegal constitutional revision. They contend that Prop. 8 illegally alters equal-protection guarantees.

“The people voted eight years ago overwhelmingly in favor of traditional marriage and they seem to be saying in pretty strong terms again,” said Prop. 8 co-chair Frank Schubert.

Countered Elizabeth Gill, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California: “A major purpose of the Constitution is to protect minorities from majorities. Because changing that principle is a fundamental change to the organizing principles of the Constitution itself, only the Legislature can initiate such revisions to the Constitution.”

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Equality California and six same-sex couples who did not marry before Tuesday’s election but would like to marry now.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 05, 2008 (boomark / email).