Litigation

California Court Seen Likely to Uphold Proposition 8

By Lissette Villarruel

The California Supreme Court seemed disinclined to overturn the controversial Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, but appeared willing to uphold the marriages of same-sex couples before the revision passed in November.

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, crowds of both protesters and supporters of the divisive amendment gathered before City Hall as the high state court heard oral arguments on Proposition 8. While this same court had previously overturned a gay marriage ban, it was not impressed with arguments that gay rights lawyers had to offer.

Justice Joyce L. Kennard, usually a support of gay rights, expressed a deep concern in the argument to overturn a revision passed by citizens. ??What I am picking up from this case is that the court should willy-nilly disregard the will of the people.?? Similarly, Justice Carol A. Corrigan also expressed a desire to adhere to the principles of a democracy and respect the votes of citizens. Chief Justice Ronald M. George suggested instead that perhaps the rules governing the constitutional amendments were at fault.

Nonetheless, the court was unanimously committed to upholding marriages that occurred before the November election. As the conservative Justice Marvin Baxter noted, after the high court grant gay couples that right, ??How can we deny the validity of those marriages???

The court?s inclination to support Proposition 8 comes as a blow to gay rights lawyers, who argued that Proposition fundamentally altered the state Constitution, which means that such a revision could only be voted upon by citizens after two-thirds of the Legislature had approved putting it on the ballot. (more…)

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 06, 2009 (boomark / email).