Same-Sex marriage ban stays on the ballot
The state Supreme Court just denied a petition to remove Proposition 8 from the Nov. 4 ballot. If passed, Proposition 8 would restrict marriage in California to man-woman unions. For the official word, look here. For background, see here and here.
UPDATE: The court's decision was unanimous. The justices did not elaborate on their decision but merely indicated by order that the petition was denied. The action took place this morning at the court's weekly Wednesday conference.
The Proposition 8 opponents who asked the justices to strike the measure from the ballot argued, in papers filed June 20, that voters could not eliminate or diminish a fundamental constitutional right, and that the state high court's 4-3 ruling May 15 making marriage available to couples regardless of gender established such a fundamental constitutional right. Changing it, the petitioners argued, would go beyond a constitutional amendment and instead amount to a constitutional revision, which can be placed on the ballot only by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or by a constitutional convention.
The court's decision does leave open the possibility of further action on amendment-versus-revision grounds after the vote -- if Proposition 8 passes.
Proposition 8 remains on the ballot but the issue raised in the petition as to whether a revision or an amendment can be raised again if the amendment is successful. The reason for this is that the Court did not address the merits of the Petition. If the same gender marraige proponents win and continue to win, it will probably always be on the ballot FOREVER (similar to the parental notification of underage abortion measure).
Each side is expected to raise $15M and therefore today the Court has given a boost to the economy with the rise of a new industry or complex I call The Gay Marraige Industrial Complex.
Posted by: Kevin Norte | July 16, 2008 at 01:49 PM