Litigation

Prop 8 Backers Appeal Court Ruling

By Peter Hardin

Backers of the voter-approved resolution banning same-sex marriage in California are asking an appeals court to overturn a judge’s decision that found the measure unconstitutional.

Judge Vaughn R. Walker “ignored an overwhelming body of evidence establishing the common-sense proposition that the institution of marriage has, virtually always and everywhere, been defined as a union of man and woman,” supporters of Proposition 8 wrote, according to a Bloomberg article.

In August, Judge Walker ruled that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry. He said  Proposition 8 violates their federal constitutional rights (see earlier Gavel Grab postings).

In its appeals brief, “the Proposition 8 campaign relied on the same legal arguments it used unsuccessfully in the unprecedented federal trial held in January,” the San Jose Mercury News reported.

After lawyers for gay marriage supporters file their brief in response, oral arguments are set before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals during the week of Dec. 6.

Full post as published by The Gavel on September 20, 2010 (boomark / email).