Initiatives trample rights, (Calif Sup Ct) Justice Moreno says

[alp227]

Ballot initiatives have been used to mislead the public and trample on the rights of minorities, says Carlos Moreno, the only California Supreme Court justice who voted to overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

"It's of great concern to me that certain basic rights, such as equal protection, the right to privacy and other fundamental rights, can be subject to change by simple majority vote," Moreno said in an interview last week while preparing to accept a gay-rights group's Equality Leadership Award.

"Majority rule is nice in concept, but I think there has to be some kind of restraint on that to fulfill the larger purpose of our democracy."

Moreno, 61, a former federal judge in Los Angeles, was named to the state's high court in 2001 by Gov. Gray Davis. He has a generally moderate record, has voted to uphold numerous death sentences, and was on President Obama's list last year of potential candidates for the U.S. Supreme Court nomination that went to Justice Sonia Sotomayor. He will be on the ballot for a new 12-year term in November.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/16/BAVI1C0R08.DTL

[coti]

1. He's right. It's gone too far in California and messed up the state

both socially and financially.

[Sans Culottes]

2. In one succinct clause he explains it all,

both the flaw and the purpose of such initiatives:

*The ruling "places at risk the state constitutional rights of all disfavored minorities," he wrote.*

[jody]

3. Moreno poses the right question, do CA citizens have inalienable rights that govt. is obligated

to protect against the tyranny of a simple majority?