California Supreme Court Sets Proposition 8 Appeal in Motion

[The Straight Story]

California Supreme Court Sets Proposition 8 Appeal in Motion
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SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Supporters of the ban on gay marriage in California can defend the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the state's highest court ruled unanimously Thursday.

While the California Supreme Court said the conservative legal group ProtectMarriage.com can intervene in the fight over Proposition 8, the justices did not address the merits of the ban's constitutionality.

"In a post-election challenge to a voter-approved initiative measure, the official proponents of the initiative are authorized under California law to appear and assert the state's interest in the initiative's validity and to appeal a judgment invalidating the measure when the public officials who ordinarily defend the measure or appeal such a judgment decline to do so," Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wrote for the court.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker declared the voter initiative unconstitutional in August 2010, shortly before announcing his retirement. Debate over the ban has also produced a series of contentious offshoots, such as a fight to unseal tapes of the two-week bench trial and questions about Walker's impartiality as an openly gay man with a partner of 10 years.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/11/17/41546.htm