Calif. High Court Refuses AG's Request to Rush Same-Sex Marriage Resolution
by Allie Martin
August 16, 2005
(AgapePress) - In a unanimous ruling, California's Supreme Court has rejected the state Attorney General's request to expedite an appeal involving same-sex marriage proponents' challenges to California's marriage law. And, as one pro-family lawyer notes, the court's 5-0 decision not to hear these consolidated challenges for the time being means traditional marriage defenders now have more time to work on amending the state's constitution to protect traditional marriage.Earlier this year, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled California's marriage laws unconstitutional when he struck down Proposition 22, a statewide voter legislative initiative passed in 2000 by a vote of 61.4 percent. Prop 22 declared that marriage is a union of one man and one woman. Following Kramer's March ruling, however, the state Attorney General asked for an expedited appeal to the Supreme Court, which would allow the marriage law challenges to bypass the normal track through California's court of appeals.
The pro-family group Campaign for California Families was the only defendant to oppose the Attorney General's expedited appeal. However, the California Supreme Court's August 10 decision turning down the A.G.'s request means the case will now proceed through the normal appellate track, with only the possibility of eventually going before the Supreme Court.
Mat Staver | |
Mat Staver is president of Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based legal group that is representing Campaign for California Families in defense of the state's marriage laws. He says the Supreme Court ruling is a victory for pro-family forces and traditional marriage supporters statewide. "This will allow the people in California to continue with their marriage amendment process," the attorney says, and "to proceed to amend their state constitution to preserve marriage as one man and one woman."
Staver's legal group has been working on combating the attacks on California's marriage laws by same-sex marriage proponents. Since the legal challenges and the defenses have been consolidated in one court, the pro-family Liberty Council is "one of the organizations that's now been allowed to defend this marriage law in California," he says.
"We believe that the people, not the courts, should define marriage," Liberty Council's president asserts, "and that's why we are excited about this most recent ruling -- because it postpones the case going to the California Supreme Court and allows more time for the people in California to go to the polls to amend their state constitution to preserve marriage."
Despite Judge Kramer's ruling against California's marriage laws, the effect of that ruling has been stayed pending the appeal process, Staver explains. He says there was no need for the state court to rush to judgment on the marriage issue. Currently there are two voter initiatives moving forward in California to amend the constitution to preserve traditional marriage, defining it as the union of one man and one woman.
Liberty Counsel represents VoteYesMarriage.com, the sponsor of one of these proposed marriage amendments. The legal group has also filed suit over the Attorney General's biased title and factually inaccurate summary of a voter initiative originally designed to protect marriage. A hearing on that matter is scheduled in Sacramento on August 18.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
