California Supreme Court Ruling on Prop 8 (Traditional Marriage)
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The California Supreme Court upheld Prop 8 today, the voter-backed initiative in support of a traditional definition of marriage in California. However, it also upheld the 18,000 or so gay marriages it permitted with it’s previous opinion requiring gay marriage licenses on equal protection grounds. You can read or download the Supreme Court’s opinion here.
We’ll update this post with links, resources and winners and losers throughout the day.
Winners:
Ken Starr- Dean Starr should probably be sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States. Up until the mainstream media spent months demonizing him for his role as Whitewater special prosecutor, Mr. Starr was respected as one of the most brightest, most articulate, and most likeable attorneys in the country. He was a good judge, too. Now a dean at Pepperdine’s law school in Malibu California, Starr re-entered the firestorm of controversy by delivering the oral argument on behalf of the initiative. As he proved time and time again as a younger solicitor general, Ken Starr may be the best appellate attorney in the United States and his ability to turn around several of the justices who wrote the initial decision requiring gay marriage licenses on equal protection grounds won the day for Prop 8 supporters… and it looks like he held on to his job as dean, as well.
Gavin Newsom - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s call to fame has been his extreme support for gay marriage. In his bid to capture the Democratic Party nomination for Governor next year, Newsom will now have something to talk about amongst his core liberal base.
Losers:
The Homosexual Activist Lobby – Sometime towards the end of their campaign against Prop 8 and increasingly so after their defeat at the ballot box, the activist homosexual groups in California returned to the divisive attention-seeking tactics that middle America has rejected for years. Most famously they ran an anti-Mormon television commercial, which boosted support for Prop 8 from people who oppose religious discrimination and support religious liberty throughout the state. Since the election has ended, they have taken every opportunity to protest religious institutions, call on supporters of traditional marriage to be harassed and/or fired from creative positions in the entertainment industry, and generally self-destructed. They have been circulating petitions for pro-gay marriage initiatives, but increasingly gay marriage will sound to Californians not so much like equality, but like an opportunity to degrade a sacred religious concept, and Equality California will be seen as a group that is best understood to be motivated by hate for traditional America rather than “love.” Meanwhile, the marriage question has overshadowed increased efforts to homosexuals from violence and other causes mainstream America would actually be able to understand and identify with.
Related Stories and Resources from the Web:
Right Wing News: The California Supreme Court’s Prop-8 Decision
Volokh Conspiracy Posts:
* The California Supreme Court on Attorney General Jerry Brown’s Arguments Against Prop. 8
* California Prop. 8 Upheld, But Held Not To Affect Existing Same-Sex Marriages
* The California Supreme Court on Amendment vs. Revision
* Final Exam in California Constitutional Law
Michelle Malkin: Breaking – Prop. 8 Upheld
Hot Air: California Court Upholds Prop 8
World Net Daily: California Justices Say Marriage is 1-Man, 1-Woman
Wizbang: California’s Prop 8 Upheld
Polipundit: Did Hell Just Freeze Over?
WSJ: Calif. Upholds Gay-Marriage Ban
Reuters: California Court Lets Gay Marriage Ban Stand
[...] Malkin and Stuart Taylor about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is that in delivering California Supreme Court Ruling on Prop 8 (Traditional Marriage) – dailyuprising.com 05/26/2009 The California Supreme Court upheld Prop 8 today, the voter-backed [...]