I saw this article yesterday in the San Francisco Cronical. After a long wait, the outcome of Prop. 8 will be announced on Tuesday. Speculation has been that the Justices will not overturn the propasition - I hope that is not the case and that the recent decisions in Iowa and in the New England States is an indication of the direction of this country. The court's decision will be posted on its Web site, www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme, at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, May 23, 2009
(05-22) 13:40 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- With partisans on both sides holding their breath, and police braced for protests, the California Supreme Court is poised to deliver its final verdict Tuesday on same-sex marriage.
The court is scheduled to rule on whether Proposition 8, approved by 52 percent of the voters in November, validly amended the state Constitution to reinstate the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. If the justices uphold Prop. 8, they will also decide whether to dissolve the marriages of 18,000 same-sex couples who wed before the Nov. 4 election.
The ruling will come just over a year after the court's 4-3 decision that declared that state law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the rights of gays and lesbians to marry the partner of their choice and discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation.
The ruling made California the second state, after Massachusetts, to legalize same-sex marriage. Since then, the supreme courts of Iowa and Connecticut have issued similar rulings, and legislatures in Vermont and Maine have also authorized same-sex weddings. Another such law is pending in New Hampshire.
This time, the California court faces a different question: whether a majority of the voters can amend their Constitution to take rights away from a minority.
Lawsuits challenging Prop. 8 were filed by two groups of same-sex couples and by local governments led by the city of San Francisco, joined by civil rights and feminist organizations.
They argue that the ballot measure made such fundamental changes to the rights guaranteed by the state Constitution that it amounted to a constitutional revision, not merely an amendment. A revision requires approval by two-thirds of the Legislature or by delegates to a new state constitutional convention to reach the ballot.
Attorney General Jerry Brown, who ordinarily defends state laws in the courts, joined the opponents of Prop. 8 and argued that the voters lack the power to eliminate "inalienable rights."
Supporters of the initiative, led by conservative Christian organizations, noted that the court has declared only two previous initiatives to be revisions and has denied similar challenges to such far-reaching measures as legislative term limits, the Proposition 13 tax cut and the reinstatement of the death penalty. They argued that the California Constitution places ultimate authority in the hands of the people, and that the court should defer to their judgment.
At a hearing in March, most of the justices seemed inclined to uphold Prop. 8 while validating the marriages that were conducted between mid-June, when the earlier ruling took effect, and election day. Gay rights advocates already are making tentative plans to return to the ballot in 2010 or 2012 if they lose Tuesday.
"If we must reverse Prop. 8 at the ballot, we will do so," Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and a lawyer for couples in the case, said Friday after the court announced plans for the ruling. "We will win - if not on Tuesday, then one day soon."
In the meantime, advocates are planning demonstrations in Civic Center Plaza both before and after the court issues its decision Tuesday. If Prop. 8 is upheld, an interfaith group of clergy is planning to "surround those who are willing to be arrested in civil disobedience as we sing, and move aside as they are arrested." At 6 p.m., the group is planning to march from City Hall to Yerba Buena Gardens.
Police are preparing for huge demonstrations, said Sgt. Wilfred Williams, a police spokesman. He said the city has moved barricades to the Civic Center Plaza area and will have "enough officers to respond and deal with any incidents."
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