Posted on 01/01/2005 2:48:08 PM PST by DBeers
Gay Homosexual 'marriage' opponents aim to recall judge
SACRAMENTO – Acknowledging that they hope to pressure the judiciary statewide, opponents of same-sex marriage are trying to recall a Sacramento Superior Court judge who upheld domestic partner laws this fall.
California's attorney general, jurists across the state and gay rights activists have rushed to Judge Loren McMaster's defense. They are painting the campaign as an attack on an independent judiciary by disgruntled activists who have failed to slow the state trend toward expanding gay rights.
The recall effort in Sacramento County comes as many California lawmakers attempt to gingerly balance public opposition to same-sex marriage while extending legal rights and responsibilities to gay and lesbian couples.
"This is to call attention to what the silent majority is up against in terms of the attack on family values," said Tony Andrade, a recall leader who filed paperwork yesterday to clear the way for signature gathering in mid-January.
Sacramento County voters, by a 62.5 percent to 37.5 percent margin, supported Proposition 22, a 2000 initiative that explicitly defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Competing measures to strengthen or weaken Proposition 22 also have been introduced in the Legislature, foreshadowing more soul-searching and partisan sniping over the emotionally charged issue of same-sex marriage.
California Association of Judges President James M. Mize issued a stinging rebuke to the recall threat this month, warning that "the justice system as we know it would be destroyed" if McMaster is removed.
Victory, Mize said, would embolden others with different agendas to adopt similar tactics.
"Honorable judges who make rulings appropriately based on law would eventually all be recalled," he said. "The only ones left would be those very, very few who are willing to make their decisions based on public opinion."
Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Roseville, who has not yet taken a role in the recall, nevertheless defended Christian conservatives who believe the Legislature and courts are not listening.
"I don't have a problem with people who feel judges' decisions are so far out of the mainstream that they need to have a review by the public through a recall election," Leslie said. "I don't think judges should consider themselves beyond any review."
McMaster, who has refused to comment on the matter, drew the ire of gay rights critics after rejecting challenges to two state laws – formerly Assembly Bills 205 and 25 – that foes of same-sex marriage say were implemented to circumvent California's ban on such unions. The laws addressed issues ranging from inheritance to child custody and pensions.
McMaster's September ruling is a mix of legal reasoning and praise for the institution of marriage. In a key point, he cited the fact that higher courts, the Legislature and the authors of Proposition 22 have recognized domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.
"Marriage has been the keystone of civilized society, predating governmental regulation," McMaster wrote. "It has been in society's interest to maintain the institution of marriage for a broad spectrum of contemporary societal goals ranging from certainty in property rights to procreation.
"A marriage," he continued, "is no less or more a marriage when government adds or subtracts yet another restriction, duty or benefit exclusive to the marital relationship."
The judge also pointed out that Proposition 22's authors chose not to include language that had been used to overturn a domestic partnership law passed by the Legislature in 1999.
"If the drafters of Proposition 22 had intended to limit the future rights and duties of domestic partners, language plainly stating that goal would necessarily have been included in the measure," McMaster said.
"The fact that such limiting language was not used in Proposition 22 persuades the court that it was not intended to serve as an absolute limit upon the Legislature's power to confer rights and benefits upon citizens of the state."
McMaster was appointed to the bench in 1999 by then-Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat. His past rulings show no hint of a liberal bias.
The judge sided with Republicans in a key campaign fund-raising case brought against Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. He later ruled against Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, in a similar campaign finance matter.
"Judge Loren McMaster is a hard-working and well-respected member of the Sacramento Superior Court," Sacramento Judge Michael Virga said. "He is dedicated to fairly and evenly deciding the cases that are assigned to him."
Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a Democrat, also weighed in.
"Our system of government cannot function the way our nation's founders intended if the courts are reduced to being political weather vanes," Lockyer said. "When a group threatens to recall one judge because they disagree with a ruling, they threaten all judges. They threaten the independence of the judiciary."
Randy Thomasson, executive director of Campaign for California Families, doesn't buy that argument.
"McMaster has trashed the vote of the people who said they want everything about marriage to stay for a man and a woman," said Thomasson, whose group filed the original lawsuit challenging the legislative measures and plans to appeal McMaster's ruling.
"The clear and plain reading of these marriage-attacking bills was to create homosexual marriage by another name," he said.
Recall supporters plan next month to start collecting the 44,000 signatures needed to force a special election, which could be held in mid-2005.
Of the 650,700 registered Sacramento County voters, 43 percent are Democrats and 35 percent are Republicans. The presidential race was a virtual draw among voters there, with Sen. John Kerry receiving about 1,000 more votes than President Bush.
McMaster was elected to a full six-year term in November 2002.
Andrade said the signature-gathering campaign will cost at least $150,000, using a mix of volunteers and paid circulators. He dismissed dire warnings of dragging judges into the political arena.
"The focus here has to be on exposing the counterculture," Andrade said.
Jurist recalls face high hurdles. Chief Justice Rose Bird, an appointee of Gov. Jerry Brown, fought off recalls by activists who were mostly angered by her anti-death penalty views, but she and two other justices were later voted out in a traditional election.
Family law judges in Marin County were targeted in 2000 for alleged favoritism in rulings, but they prevailed. And Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joyce Karlin survived a recall threat when she sentenced a Korean grocer to probation in the shooting death of a black teenager a few years ago.
homosexual agenda pre ping.
We have one of those "judges" in arkansas who at the very least deserve a recall, impeachment, trial for fraud, conviction, and have Bubbah as his roomie!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1310620/posts
Arkansas Judge Overturns Morality!
I would like to know HOW one gets one of these scumbag lawyers up in fornt of a judicial review board. A judge is a lawyer thanks to laws written by lawyers ... what a racket!
Impeachment of activist judges seems to be the last resort. Its about time!
If you want on/off the list let me know
And I view the judge's ruling as an attack on an independant legislature.
This is GREAT news!! It's time the people stand and DEMAND that the Laws are interpreted as they were meant to be. These National Socialist Judges need removed from the Bence Permanently.
The Supreme Court Justices also, have conferred with the EU lawyers and applied their Socialist Philosophy to our laws and Judicial System, they all must be purged and we must ensure those that replace them will defend the Constitution. Many Politicians and Judges have taken that oath, many have forgotten what it means.
There's a difference between a judiciary that's independent and one that's detached from reality itself. Some of these jurists fall into the latter category and it's reasonable to seek their removal.
We need to hold judges accountable for subverting the will of the people. Its about time.
Out of curiosity, is Judge Loren McMaster married?
A little known fact. The Dodo Bird had a predilection for homosexuality. A condition that led it to be extinct.
"Honorable judges who make rulings appropriately based on law would eventually all be recalled," he said. "The only ones left would be those very, very few who are willing to make their decisions based on public opinion."
NO in fact the only ones left would be Judges who strictly read the constitution and make a ruking acordingly, which is their JOB! Not Legislate from the bench (the constitution does strictly prohibit that)which is what these Judges are doing. Way to go California!!!!!
BUMP
the Legislature's power to confer rights and benefits upon citizens of the state."
This is where his main problem begins.
isn't that the point, get rid of corrupted judges?
LOL! If the environmentalists had been around with their 'save the endangered species', they certainly would have sought government funds to research and find a cure to save the Dodo Birds!
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