(08-14) 14:51 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court gave its final approval Wednesday to the rights of gays and lesbians to marry, dismissing an appeal by sponsors of the 2008 initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California.
The justices unanimously denied review of a suit by conservative Christians who put Proposition 8 on the ballot and argued that it remains in effect statewide, despite a federal judge's 2010 ruling in San Francisco that declared it unconstitutional.
The court's action could mean the end of a legal battle that began more than nine years ago when Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered San Francisco's city clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, defying state law that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
The state Supreme Court invalidated the 4,000 marriages in San Francisco but set in motion a challenge to the law that led to its overturning on appeal in May 2008, the passage of Prop. 8 six months later, and a new lawsuit that reached the nation's high court.
The 2010 ruling by then-Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker finding Prop. 8 unconstitutional was suspended during lengthy appeals, but was reinstated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 26 that the initiative's sponsors lacked legal standing to represent the state in federal court. Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris had agreed with Walker's decision and declined to appeal it.
On June 28, Brown, based on legal advice from Harris, ordered all 58 county clerks to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Prop. 8's sponsors then asked the state's high court to intervene, arguing that Brown had no authority over the county clerks who issue marriage licenses.
The sponsors said Walker's ruling should apply only to the four plaintiffs who had sued to overturn the law - a lesbian couple from Berkeley and a gay couple from Burbank.
"Executive officials have attacked, failed to enforce and undermined state laws affirming traditional marriage," the pro-Prop. 8 group Protect Marriage told the court.
They were briefly joined by San Diego County's clerk, Ernest Dronenburg, who filed a separate suit arguing that he was still bound to follow Prop. 8 but could not do so because of threats of punitive action by Harris. Dronenburg dropped his suit after the court refused to halt the weddings last month.
In defense of Brown's order, state lawyers noted that Walker had barred state officials and anyone under their supervision from enforcing Prop. 8. They said a 2004 state Supreme Court ruling established that the state, and not individual county clerks, decides who is eligible for marriage license.
Prop 8's sponsors haven't said whether they plan any additional legal actions.
"The California Supreme Court's choice not to address the merits of our case, like the U.S. Supreme Court's choice to avoid the merits, leaves grave doubts about the future of the initiative process in our state," Andy Pugno, an attorney for Protect Marriage, said in a statement. "Now, voters will be less confident than ever that their votes will mean something. When politicians disregard the law, and the courts refuse to get involved, what are we left with?"
http://www.sfgate.co...age-4732959.php
As a pro-gay support, its a step further in the right direction.
