Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Democratic legislators ask state Supreme Court to void Prop. 8

Excerpts from an article by Dan Morain in the Los Angeles Times

Opponents contend that a ban on gay marriage can only be done by a revision of the state Constitution involving the Legislature. The Prop. 8 campaign leader calls the effort 'a Hail Mary.'

Forty-three Democratic legislators, including leaders of the California Senate and Assembly, filed a brief Monday urging the California Supreme Court to void Proposition 8.

No Republican legislator signed the petition, though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, denounced the anti-gay marriage measure over the weekend.


1 comment:

Michael Ejercito said...

The Prop. 8 campaign leader calls the effort 'a Hail Mary.'
That is an understatement.

A similar argument was attempted to declare a voter initiative that reinstated the death penalty.

The California Supreme Court had ruled that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment in the case of California v. Anderson .

Voters passed an initiative that declared the death penalty to be constitutional and not cruel and unusual punishment.

In People v. Frierson , one of the questions before the court was whether the initiative constituted a revision.

The Court ruled it did not.

And it was the Rose Bird court that ruled so, a Court that had a reputation for overturning death sentences. (It did overturn the death sentence in Frierson , though it did not rule the death penalty unconstitutional.)