"upon further reflection and a deeper probing into all the aspects of our Constitution..." ze vill of ze voters, vill be overturned!! Ve must restrict ze voting to zose who vill vote ze vay ve like!
Posted on 12/20/2008 8:42:24 AM PST by IbJensen
SAN FRANCISCO - California's attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now joining forces with homosexual activists to overturn the results of Proposition 8.
In a dramatic reversal, Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a legal brief saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is itself unconstitutional because it deprives a minority group of a fundamental right. Earlier, Brown had said he would defend the ballot measure against legal challenges from gay marriage supporters.
But Brown said he reached a different conclusion "upon further reflection and a deeper probing into all the aspects of our Constitution.
"It became evident that the Article 1 provision guaranteeing basic liberty, which includes the right to marry, took precedence over the initiative," he said in an interview Friday night. "Based on my duty to defend the law and the entire Constitution, I concluded the court should protect the right to marry even in the face of the 52 percent vote."
Brown, who served as governor from 1975 to 1983, is considering seeking the office again in 2010. After California voters passed Proposition 8 on Nov. 4, Brown said he personally voted against it but would fight to uphold it as the state's top lawyer.
He submitted his brief in one of the three legal challenges to Proposition 8 brought by same-sex marriage supporters. The measure, a constitutional amendment that passed with 52 percent of the vote, overruled the state Supreme Court decision last spring that briefly legalized gay marriage in the nation's most populous state.
Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called the attorney general's change of strategy "a major development."
"The fact that after looking at this he shifted his position and is really bucking convention by not defending Prop. 8 signals very clearly that this proposition can not be defended," Minter said.
The sponsors of Proposition 8 argued for the first time Friday that the court should undo the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters banned gay marriage at the ballot box last month.
The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief telling the court that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions.
"Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions," reads the brief co-written by Kenneth Starr, dean of Pepperdine University's law school and a former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton.
Both Brown and gay rights groups maintain that the gay marriage ban may not be applied retroactively.
Starr's co-counsel Andrew Pugno said Brown's decision to challenge the voter-approved measure and the argument advanced by the attorney general was "totally unprecedented."
"His legal duty as attorney general of the state is to defend initiatives passed by the voters," he said.
The state Supreme Court could hear arguments in the litigation in March. The measure's backers announced Friday that Starr had signed on as their lead counsel and would argue the cases.
A pig knows more about the application of lipstick than the weird Jerry Brown could ever know about the Constitution.
Jerry Brown to California voters: “Drop dead!”
People’s votes no longer matter?????
Does Jerry Brown have a wide stance now?
Surprise, Surprise!
Gee I wonder why didn’t we believe him a month ago when he said he would vigorously defend the peoples vote.
He has been trying to sabotage prop 8 from the beginning when he changed the wording on the ballot to help it lose.
This is actually quite astonishing, although not at all surprising.
Our masters are displaying themselves for the first time, no longer hiding behind the veil of democracy.
Courts and government officials are openly proclaiming their right and duty to override the vote of the people, even in the form of an amendment to the very constitution from which these officials derive their power.
If this stands, it can presumably be equally applied to the Constitution of the US. That means we lose even the last theoretical potential of being able to rescue ourselves from their tyrannical misinterpretation of the Constitution by changing the document.
Reinvents himself....
AGAIN... and....
AGAIN... and....
AGAIN... and....
AGAIN... and....
How about the rule of [existing] law??
....and....
THE CLEARLY EXPRESSED WILL OF THE PEOPLE!!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
“His legal duty as attorney general of the state is to defend initiatives passed by the voters,”
Since when has a State Constitution or the people’s will ever effected a liberal?
When the ballot box no longer works, the time for stronger measures is not far away. Paul Revere would be yelling the Liberals are coming, the Liberals are coming...
The people said NO, these people need to know I will NEVER ACCEPT their concept of family! NO MARRIAGE FOR SAME SEX COUPLES! I am sick and tired of having this issue shoved in my face. Well I shove back - NO!!!!!!!
This “victory” eventually is going to be overturned by the state SC. And, the Prop 8 supporters will go down with but a whimper in the end. The left never gives in to its opposition.
Whoever came up with:
Voting does matter.
Who said, “If voting really mattered it would be illegal”?
Hey, Moonbeam, the people have spoken. I guess California is a dictatorship now?
For thousands of years and in EVERY civilized society, “marriage” has been defined as a union between a MAN and a WOMAN! And Brown calls gay “marriage” “... a FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT??” Maybe on HIS planet!
Governor Moonbeam strikes again!
Up next: “The Migratory Mammal Matrimony Act of 2009!”
yeah, whatever happened to majority rules?
Jerry is a complete asshat.
Long past time for a revolution?
Is there anyone at all in the entire universe who didn't expect this?
The California Constitution is now unconstitutional in California.
The rulers there no longer derive their power from the people.
Brown became know as moonbean because it was said he was the only governor at the time with his own space program. Brown had proposed that the state put up a communication satellite for emergencies and a statewide communication network. He was laughed at by ignorant idiots. Soon after Dukemejian came in and what did he do, put up a satellite. Of course, Duke is not looked at as crazy, just thoughful.
Our masters are displaying themselves for the first time, no longer hiding behind the veil of democracy.
Courts and government officials are openly proclaiming their right and duty to override the vote of the people, even in the form of an amendment to the very constitution from which these officials derive their power.
If this stands, it can presumably be equally applied to the Constitution of the US. That means we lose even the last theoretical potential of being able to rescue ourselves from their tyrannical misinterpretation of the Constitution by changing the document.
I wish I could disagree with this dreary analysis. Sadly, however, it is right on target.
Today's left is not the left of earlier generations--the left that believed in careful analysis and a robust national debate, as a precursor to action. No, today's left sincerely (I suppose) believes that a handful of Deep Thinkers should be entrusted with all important decisions; and if the majority of citizens--a.k.a. dimwits and yahoos--happen to disagree, well, the Enlightened Few must set them straight.
It is becoming rather depressing.
Bingo. This will end up in the courts with a lot of liberal jibberish and it will be overturned. What will the people do? That is the question. Because if it is not challenged then they will be emboldened to go on and do further damage... like demanding that homosexual diversity be taught in the pubic schools.
What would anyone expect from the queer?
...yeah we can’t trust the same voters who were smart enough to elect people like me....
How sweet.
I think that “reflection” was either a threat or a bribe.
Does the article anywhere refer to what Californians know = he’s gay. So why the surprise he’s out to negate the people’s vote?
Not when it interferes with the bank account or comfort of a politician. Then all bets are off!
I am Governor Jerry Brown
My aura smiles
And never frowns
Soon I will be president...
Carter Power will soon go away
I will be Fuhrer one day
I will command all of you
Your kids will meditate in school
Your kids will meditate in school!
[Chorus:]
California Uber Alles
California Uber Alles
Uber Alles California
Uber Alles California
Zen fascists will control you
100% natural
You will jog for the master race
And always wear the happy face
Close your eyes, can’t happen here
Big Bro’ on white horse is near
The hippies won’t come back you say
Mellow out or you will pay
Mellow out or you will pay!
[Chorus]
Now it is 1984
Knock-knock at your front door
It’s the suede/denim secret police
They have come for your uncool niece
Come quietly to the camp
You’d look nice as a drawstring lamp
Don’t you worry, it’s only a shower
For your clothes here’s a pretty flower.
DIE on organic poison gas
Serpent’s egg’s already hatched
You will croak, you little clown
When you mess with President Brown
When you mess with President Brown
There is precedent for liberal gibberish - Colorado amendment 2 (a measure to prevent sexual deviants form receiving legal preferred status) passed by a majority of the voters was ruled unconstitutional first by the state court. I'm still not sure a an amendment can be unconstitutional - that would make the constitution unconstitutional. Then it was pushed to the USSC where it was struck down.
In his dissent Scalia wrote [Amendment 2 is] a modest attempt by seemingly tolerant Coloradans to preserve traditional sexual mores against the efforts of a politically powerful minority to revise those mores through use of the laws. That objective, and the means chosen to achieve it, are [...] unimpeachable under any constitutional doctrine hitherto pronounced.
It doesn't matter what the vote counts were if the homos want it they will get it. Now we all get to bend over and take it!
However, the article does note that he's looking to future elections, and this is after all, California. He'd lose his base if he even suggested that gay marriage was wrong. Even kind of wrong, just a little bit...
While Cal pioneered the initiative process, it also has a sterling record for ignoring that process when it served the left to do so.
Finally;
marriage is not a right, no matter how often they insist that it is. It is (a) a means for civil government to regulate people, to tax them, and to count noses, and it is (b) a church rite that the church(s) should have complete control over and from which government should butt out.
There are already two 'marriages' anyway;
one filed in the court house and one affected by a religious body - and the latter isn't even required. So let the state tally up "paired units" and leave marriage to the folks who understand it.
I was in Sacratomato at the time and I passed along my recollection of the origin.
I read somewhere that people have the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Some people consider being married, pursuing happiness.
I voted against the amendment because I consider it unAmerican to put restrictions of rights into the constitution.
Be the kind of American you want, as will I.
2. Tar
3. Feathers
4. Rail
There is one final line of defense. RKBA.
Jerry Brown is a bigger “sucker” than I imagined.
He was a disgrace as a governor, a disgrace as a mayor and is now a disgrace as an attorney genersal.
I wonder what “conservative” radio talk show host Michael Savage now thinks of Jerry Brown, to whom he contributed $5,000?
True.
But that’s a revolutionary right, not a legal right.
If this stands, they’ve just removed the last remnant of legitimacy from their authority. If legitimate power derives from the People, as the Constitution and the D of I says it does, then any polity in which the people can be overruled is by definition no longer legitimate.
There can be only one ultimate authority in any polity. It’s either the People, or the Elite. The Elite appears to be going for finalizing that they are the final authority, as they have been in Europe for several decades.
Savage probably always knew that Jerry was a fruitcake.
I never heard that one. But, I do remember him thumbing his nose at the Governor's mansion to sleep on a mattress on the floor in an apartment close to the Capital.
I can also remember, more recently, him making a mess of all he touched as the Mayor of Oakland. He is the ultimate example of non productive government hack.
“like demanding that homosexual diversity be taught in the pubic schools.”
H*ll they do this now and have been doing this for years. Why do you think younger voters went against Prop * by a large margin?
Anyone who does not home school his children faces the certainty of them turning against you after they attend the public school indoctrination camps.
Many of the state police officer associations supported him, but he opposed longer sentences and the death penalty. We had about 28,000 prisoners when he was gov and now we have 180,000+
He was largely responsible for prop 13. He had a 5 billion dollar surplus and no tax decrease or refund. So we passed prop 13 for property tax relief when the state had a lot of surplus.
On the last niight in office before midnight, he signed the bill to give state employees collective bargaining. Something that has been trouble ever since.
Like every idiot who has used this argument, you are making no sense what so ever. This amendment does not take away rights from anyone. It actually affirms that everyone has the same right, the right to get married. Gays have that right today, they simply have to get married to someone of the opposite sex. That is the same right that the rest of us have. What gays want is special privilege, just as other so called minorities want special privilege.
They don't want to be equal, they want to be "special".
To say prop 8 takes away rights that never existed, in any context, is just plain stupid.
You have the right to believe how you want, I, and others, have the right to call your beliefs idiotic and nonsensical.
I hope we recall all the judges and Jerry Brown if this amendment is trashed, I know I will be wanting to do more than recall the bastards.
Okay, I’m an idiot. Goodbye.
I am Shocked
Like, you think it isn't already happening?
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