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Prop 8 Supporters Ask CA Supreme Court To Halt Same Sex Marriages, Say U.S. Supreme Court's Failure To Rule On Measure's Constitutionality Leaves It The Law in CA; CA Att'y Gen'l Swiftly Files Opposition



(July 12, 2013) -- Roughly two and a half weeks after a 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Prop 8 supporters (on grounds they lacked fed'l court "standing" to defend the measure when state officials refused to do so), Prop 8 supporters today (July 12) asked the CA Supreme Court to stop same sex marriages from continuing.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, which describes itself as "an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith," today (July 12) requested an immediate stay or injunction asking the CA Supreme Court to prohibit county officials from failing to enforce Prop 8 (which if enforced would prevent same sex marriages.)

On its website, the group voiced its view that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision not to address the validity of Prop 8 left the CA constitutional amendment the voter-approved law in California.

"The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision on Prop 8 did not settle the law's [Prop 8's] constitutionality...In fact, it said nothing good or bad about marriage, redefining marriage, or Prop 8," says text on the group's website.

[Alliance Defending Freedom website text] What the High Court did say was that the official proponents of Prop 8 who have been legally defending it in court do not have the legal standing to do so. By issuing this ruling, the Supreme Court tossed out the court of appeals decision striking down Prop 8, leaving in place only the district court decision against Prop 8 from 2010. That decision’s authority, however, does not extend statewide.

Throwing out the votes of more than 7 million California citizens has consequences beyond marriage in California; such an outcome strikes at the foundations of our democratic process and the sovereignty of the people. With so much at stake, the citizens of California -- and future generations of Americans -- deserve nothing less than every ounce of our efforts to continue to seek justice in the final outcome of Prop 8.

In its June 26 ruling in Hollingsworth v. Perry, a sharply split U.S. Supreme Court let stand the finding of a federal district court judge who concluded -- after a trial on the merits -- that CA's voter-enacted Proposition 8 unconstitutionally barred same sex marriages.

The Allaince Defending Freedom's legal filing brought a swift response from CA Attorney General Kamala Harris' office, which filed a brief urging the CA Supreme Court to deny the group's request to stop counties from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

"This Court [CA Supreme Court] is not the proper forum to litigate the scope or validity of the [federal] district court's injunction; that question is properly presented, if at all, to the federal district court," the CA Attorney General's office said in its opposition brief. "To revive Proposition 8...by ordering county officials to enforce it would command the violation of gay and lesbian Californians' federal constitutional rights," the CA AG's brief stated.

"Today’s filing by the proponents of Proposition 8 is yet another attempt to deny same-sex couples their constitutionally protected civil rights. It is baseless and we will continue to fight against it," Attorney General Harris said in a release.

The Alliance Defending Freedom successfully sued to have the 2004 San Francisco same sex marriages authorized by then Mayor Gavin Newsom halted...but more recently failed in its request to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy to apply the High Court's 25 day waiting period to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which swiftly lifted its "stay" on the lower court ruling on June 28, letting same-sex marriages in CA resume.

Further as it develops on LBREPORT.com.



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