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Yesterday - less than three months after Kenneth W. Starr and I appeared in the California Supreme Court on behalf of our ProtectMarriage.com Campaign to defend Prop 8 - the Court finally issued its decision... all 185 pages of it! By a 6 to 1 vote, a nearly-unanimous majority of the Supreme Court upheld the vote of the people by which Prop 8 was passed into law to protect traditional marriage in our State Constitution. You can read the decision here as it appears on the Court's website. While there were no real surprises in the decision, and it looks...

December 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m. Gross Dereliction of DutyBy the Editors As attorney general of California, Jerry Brown has a duty to defend the state and its laws in court. That duty requires him to offer the best grounds in defense of any law that may reasonably be defended. In a brief he filed last Friday in the case challenging Proposition 8 — the ballot measure that amended California’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage — Brown grossly violated that duty. On Election Day, California voters approved Proposition 8. Opponents of Proposition 8 then rushed to court to invalidate it...

Attorney General Jerry Brown's legal challenge to California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage marks the first time that the state's top lawyer has refused to defend a newly enacted ballot measure since 1964 - another epic discrimination case that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In November 1964, an overwhelming 65 percent majority of the state's voters approved Proposition 14, a constitutional amendment that overturned a fair-housing law and allowed racial discrimination in property sales and rentals.Attorney General Thomas Lynch - newly appointed to succeed Stanley Mosk, a Prop. 14 opponent who had just been named to the state Supreme...

Case No. 8168047 IN THE Supreme Court of the State of California KAREN 1. STRAUSS et al., Petitioners, v. MARK B. HORTON, as State Registrar of Vital Statistics, etc., et al., Respondents; DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH et al., Interveners. INTERVENERS' OPPOSITION BRIEF KENNETH W. STARR (Bar No. 58382) 24569 Via De Casa Malibu, CA 90265-3205 Telephone: (310) 506-4621 Facsimile: (310) 506-4266 ANDREW P. PUGNO (Bar No. 206587) LAW OFFICES OF ANDREW P. PUGNO 101 Parkshore Dr Ste 100 Folsom, CA 95630-4726 Telephone: (916) 608-3065 Facsimile: (916) 608-3066 Email: andrew@pugnolaw.com Attorneys for Interveners TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF AUTHORITIES iii ISSUES PRESENTED 1...

California’s Rush To Judgment on Same Sex Marriage December 20th, 2008 By JERRY REMMERS Only in California can the bizarre become the norm. In a spate of a few hours Friday afternoon, briefs were filed with the state Supreme Court challenging, supporting and extending a ban on same sex marriages. Backers of Proposition 8, the initiative that bans same sex marriage, petitioned to nullify the 18,000 marriages conducted after the high court voted 4-3 approving such nuptials. State Attorney General Jerry Brown countered with a brief indicating he could not support the proposition because “the amendment process cannot be used...

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...

SAN FRANCISCO — In a sharp rebuke to supporters of a contested state ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, the California attorney general said Friday that the measure was constitutionally indefensible and should be overturned. The attorney general, Jerry Brown, had previously hinted of his opposition to the measure, Proposition 8, but made his legal opinion concrete on Friday in a brief to the California Supreme Court, which is reviewing the measure. “Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification,” Mr. Brown said in a statement. The attorney...

Kenneth W. Starr, the former U.S. Solicitor General who led the inquiry into President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica L. Lewinsky, will argue the case in favor of upholding a ban on gay marriage before the California Supreme Court. Starr was today named lead counsel for the official proponents of Proposition 8. This afternoon, the group filed court briefs defending the legality of the proposition, which was approved by 52% of California voters last month throwing into question thousands of marriages performed during the five months the practice was legal in the state. The briefs are in response to a...

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown has changed his position with respect to the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8. Brown filed a brief Friday saying the measure, which amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman, is itself unconstitutional because it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court plunged back into the same-sex marriage wars Wednesday, agreeing to decide the legality of a ballot measure that repealed the right of gay and lesbian couples to wed in California.. . . Kennard's vote a bad sign? While both sides cheered the court's decision to take up the cases, Kennard's lone vote to deny review could spell trouble for opponents of Prop. 8. Kennard is the court's longest-serving justice, having been appointed in 1989, and has been one of its foremost supporters of same-sex couples' rights. Without her vote, the May 15...

Although we too will welcome the day that Proposition 8 is consigned to history and the right to same-sex marriage is restored to Californians, we are sorry to see that the court agreed to take the cases directly, rather than letting this issue percolate up through the lower courts. We see no reason for the haste, despite the intensity of emotion roused by the measure's defeat.In fact, that very heatedness is a reason for the court to move slowly, allowing it to rule under cooler circumstances. Similarly, painful though it is to see Proposition 8 take effect, we agree with...

The California Supreme Court voted 6 to 1 on Wednesday to review legal challenges to Proposition 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a final decision. The court may hold a hearing on the lawsuits as early as March, a timetable that scholars said was swift considering the complexity and importance of the legal issues. The court's action, taken during a closed conference, suggested that the court wants to resolve all of the legal issues surrounding Proposition 8, including the fate of existing gay marriages, in a...

Responding to pleas for legal clarity from those on both sides of the issue, the California Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would take up the case of whether a voter-approved ban on same-sex unions was constitutional. The court, however, stopped short of suspending the ban, which California voters passed as Proposition 8 two weeks ago after an expensive and hard-fought campaign.

SAN FRANCISCO – California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules. The California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits seeking to nullify Proposition 8, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that overruled the court's decision in May that legalized gay marriage. All three cases claim the measure abridges the civil rights of a vulnerable minority group. They argue that voters alone did not have the authority to enact such a significant constitutional change.read entire article here

The official proponents of Proposition 8 and ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on 8, the campaign committee responsible for its enactment by voters today said it is “profoundly gratified” that the California Supreme Court granted all their requests by agreeing to accept original jurisdiction of three cases challenging the measure’s validity, granted their request to intervene in the cases as Real Parties in Interest, denied the request of others to delay implementation of Proposition 8, and refused to allow outside groups to directly participate in the litigation. “This is a great day for the rule of law and the voters of California,”...

he California Supreme Court agreed today to review legal challenges to Prop. 8, the voter initiative that restored a ban on same-sex marriage, but refused to permit gay weddings to resume pending a ruling. Meeting in closed session, the state high court asked litigants on both sides for more written arguments and scheduled a hearing for next March. The court also signaled its intention to decide the fate of existing same-sex marriages, asking litigants to argue that question. Today's decision to review the lawsuits against Proposition 8 did not reveal how the court was leaning. The court could have dismissed...

Wednesday could be a big day in the fight over Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage in California that voters approved Nov. 4. That's when the California Supreme Court could decide whether to review several lawsuits filed by Prop 8 opponents. The groups claim the ballot measure is unconstitutional. The court could also issue a stay on Prop 8 while it decides. That would allow same-sex marriages to resume until a final ruling is made on the lawsuits. Four Bay Area counties are the latest to join the legal fight to try to stop state Proposition 8. The Board...

d) Equal Rights Advocates and California Women's Law Center - These (fellow) wimmins libbers argue that, if the process that brought us Prop 8 is legitimized, women stand a distinct chance of being harmed by whatever rights some unholy alliance of self-loathing chicks and unattractive men want take away from women as a group. They point out that the 1879 California State Constitution prohibited Chinese people from voting. e) Asian Pacific American Legal Center, et al. - This petition was filed by a group of organizations dedicated to the protection of the rights of minorities - including the NAACP. As...

Six months ago, California's highest court discarded its reputation for caution and ended the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Now the moderately conservative state Supreme Court is being asked to take an even riskier step -- to overturn the November voter initiative that reinstated the marriage ban and possibly provoke a voter revolt that could eject one or more of the justices from the bench. The court is under intense pressure from all sides. Its first response to the challenges may come today, when the justices meet privately in a weekly conference to decide which cases to accept for review....

The California Supreme Court is being asked by Proposition 8 backers to do something extreme -– to overturn the will of voters who earlier this month banned gay marriage. It’s a choice fraught with potential political ramifications for the justices -- including threats of recall. “It is a time of lots of crocodiles in the bathtub,” said Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen, who has followed the court for decades. "Their oath requires them to ignore these kinds of political threats. But the threat of having to face a contested election is a significant one.”

Proposition 8 Supreme Court Filings S168047 KAREN L. STRAUSS, et al., Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al. * Immediate Stay Request * Petitioner's Exhibits * Petitioner's Motion for Judicial Notice * Amended Petition * Motion to Intervene * Motion to Intervene by Official Proponents * Request for Judicial Notice * Preliminary Opposition * Preliminary Response from the Attorney General * Letters submitted in support of petition: The Bar Association of San Francisco et al. Forty-Four Members of the State Legislature Anti-Defamation League et al. Beverly Hills Bar Association et al. Los Angeles County Bar Association Sacramento Lawyers for Equality...

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA _____________________________________________________________ Karen L. Strauss, Ruth Borenstein, Brad Jacklin, Dustin Hergert, Eileen Ma, Suyapa Portillo, Gerardo Marin, Jay Thomas, Sierra North, Celia Carter, Desmund Wu, James Tolen and Equality California, Petitioners, v. Mark D. Horton, in his official capacity as State Registrar Of Vital StatisticsOf the State Of California and Director Of The California Department Of Public Health; Linette Scott, in her official capacity as Deputy Director Of Health Information & Strategic Planning for the California Department of Public Health; and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., in his official capacity as Attorney General...

The official proponents of Proposition 8 and the campaign committee responsible for its enactment by voters today urged the California Supreme Court to accept original jurisdiction of three cases challenging the measure's validity and have petitioned the Supreme Court to intervene in the cases as Real Parties in Interest. Expressing confidence that the Supreme Court will uphold the validity of Proposition 8, the authors of the measure urged the Supreme Court to deny requests to stay implementation of Proposition 8 pending resolution of the legal issues. In calling for the Supreme Court to take original jurisdiction of three challenges to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- After a heated, divisive campaign fueled by a record $73 million of spending, California voters have approved Proposition 8, which would change the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Opponents promptly filed suit to try to block the measure from taking effect.With 96 percent of the vote counted, Prop. 8 was winning by a decisive 400,000-vote margin, 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent. It piled up huge margins in the Central Valley and carried some Democratic strongholds such as Los Angeles County. The measure lost in every Bay Area county but Solano.As the vote counting continued this morning,...

The same California Supreme Court that created a "right" to homosexual "marriage" earlier this year has now ruled that the state may force healthcare professionals to provide services that support an immoral and physically dangerous lifestyle. California's highest court was unanimous in its decision on Monday that Christian doctors may not refuse to perform artificial insemination for homosexual patients. (See "California court says no religious exemption for doctors") Attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), reacts to the ruling. "This is a clear violation of the fundamental rights of individuals to live and practice their faith," he...

RFFM.org Guest Column by Gregg Jackson * About a month ago, the California Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, issued a declaratory opinion that Proposition 22, which states that, "Only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California," enshrined into statutory law by 61.4% of California voters in 2000 (over four million voters), was "unconstitutional" on the basis that "gender discrimination" violates the equal protection clause of the state constitution. The LA Times reported: "The California Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage Thursday in a broadly worded decision that would...

SAN FRANCISCO -- In his right hand, Luke Otterstad held a pole attached to a big yellow sign that read "Re-Criminalize Sodomy." In his left, he held a bullhorn that never touched his lips. "I haven't used it at all," said Otterstad, 22, who drove down from Placerville, prepped for a booming rhetorical showdown with same-sex marriage advocates Tuesday outside the California Supreme Court. "I expected a mob. Maybe it's too early in the morning." Or too late in the game. As lawyers on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate argued before the state's highest court and hundreds of...

As gay-rights groups call for marital equality and opponents warn of a public backlash, societal decay and religious conflict, the California Supreme Court is prepared for an epic three-hour hearing Tuesday on the constitutionality of the state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. It shapes up as the most momentous case the court has heard in decades - comparable to the 1981 ruling that guaranteed Medi-Cal abortions for poor women, the 1972 ruling that briefly overturned the state's death penalty law, and the 1948 decision, cited repeatedly in the voluminous filings before the court,...

San Francisco (AP) -- The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that employers in the state can fire workers found to have used medical marijuana legally recommended by doctors. The company, Ragingwire Inc., successfully argued it rightfully fired Gary Ross after he flunked a company-ordered drug test because all marijuana use is illegal under federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states. Ross held a medical marijuana card authorizing him to legally use marijuana to treat a back injury he sustained while serving in the U.S. Air Force. A 2005 U.S. Supreme Court...

Stockton, Calif. (AP) -- The city council voted to ask the California Supreme Court to rehear a case in which the court ruled Stockton could no longer sell vehicles seized from drug dealers and solicitors of prostitutes. City officials said Tuesday the court's 4-3 ruling last week deprived the city of an effective crime-fighting tool. The ruling overturned the laws of more than two dozen cities from Oakland to Los Angeles, and established that only state law can determine punishment drug and prostitution offenses. A Stockton ordinance allows police to seize and sell the cars of people caught selling drugs...

The California Supreme Court unanimously agreed Wednesday to decide whether the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates a constitutional ban on discrimination. The justices' move sets aside a lower court's decision in October that upheld state laws banning gays and lesbians from marrying one another. The outcome is not likely until late next year. Massachusetts is the only state that authorizes same-sex marriage. The justices are reviewing an October decision by the San Francisco-based 1st District Court of Appeal, which ruled 2-1 that California marriage laws do not discriminate because gays and lesbians get most all the rights of marriage...

I've opened this thread as a clearing house of information related to various judicial candidates in CA on the ballot for the Nov 2006 election. Feel free to add to it.

San Francisco -- Police cars chasing a suspect need to have more than flashing lights and a siren if a driver is charged with evading police, the California Supreme Court said Monday. In clarifying a key element necessary to convict a motorist of evading police, the court said the vehicle must look like an official police car. Ruling 5-2, the justices said a vehicle must be equipped with a siren, police lights in addition to some other feature marking it as an official vehicle. The court did not indicate what features it had in mind, but the opinion mentioned police...

California Supreme Court candidate Carol Corrigan won high praise Friday from a State Bar commission and most lawyers, judges and others commenting on her nomination in advance of next week's confirmation hearing. Corrigan, 57, a state appeals court justice in San Francisco since 1994, was nominated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Dec. 9 to succeed Justice Janice Rogers Brown. Brown resigned from the state's high court June 30 to become a federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C. Corrigan, Schwarzenegger's first Supreme Court nominee, has been described by most legal commentators as a moderate Republican close to the ideological center of...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A judicial vetting committee of the State Bar is ranking California Supreme Court nominee Justice Carol A. Corrigan with the second-highest rating the panel offers, according to documents released Friday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated Corrigan, a San Francisco appeals court justice, to the state's highest court Dec. 9 to fill the vacancy on the seven-member court created when Justice Janice Rogers Brown resigned to fill a federal judicial post in the District of Columbia. The Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, which consists largely of attorneys in various practices, told Schwarzenegger that, after reviewing her extensive record...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named San Francisco appellate judge Carol Corrigan to the California Supreme Court on Friday, deciding on a moderate Republican and former prosecutor to fill the post of conservative jurist Janice Rogers Brown. "This is the best of the best that we have in the state," Schwarzenegger said during a Capitol news conference called to introduce her. Corrigan, 57, a Republican sitting on the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco, succeeds Brown, who resigned in June after the U.S. Senate confirmed her to the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. Brown was the only...

San Francisco -- The California Supreme Court begins its 2005-06 term Tuesday one member short following the June departure of Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who left to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Brown's departure paves the way for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fill perhaps his most important post. At the request of Schwarzenegger, a State Bar evaluation committee is reviewing Justice Vance Raye of the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, and Justice Carol Corrigan, of the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco.

San Francisco -- The state Supreme Court denied immediate review today of a challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage, making it more likely that voters will have their say on the issue before it reaches the high court. Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who is defending the marriage law, and the city of San Francisco and same-sex couples who are challenging it all asked the court last month to bypass an appellate court and take up the case directly. The court occasionally takes such a step on important issues that need to be resolved promptly. But the justices denied the...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A man convicted in the 1998 shooting death of a Los Angeles police officer will continue to serve his life sentence after the state Supreme Court on Monday reversed an appeals court ruling that overturned his conviction. Catarino Gonzalez, Jr., was sentenced to life without parole, plus 25 years to life for using a firearm. He was also convicted of attempted murder of another police officer and ordered to serve a consecutive term of 15 years to life in prison in the attempted murder conviction, plus an additional 20 years to life for using a firearm. His...

In light of the California SC finally voiding the illegal marriage licenses, and the Missouri landslide vote against gay marriage, wouldn't it be interesting question for Kerry to flip-flop on during the presidential debates? I think the American public has finally drawn a line in the sand and will not support a wishy-wasy answer. But it would be interesting to see his answer and perhaps a new stance that he would take?

Washington, DC 11-4-03 As the unprecedented filibusters of President Bush’s judicial nominees in the U.S. Senate continue to multiply, Republican Senators struck back hard against the Democrats this morning in a Capitol Hill press conference. The purpose of the event was to rally support for the President’s nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals; a nomination that has garnered yet another filibuster threat from Senate Democrats. Phyllis Berry Myers of the Centre for New Black Leadership (CNBL), who helped to organize today’s effort, said, “This is the first salvo in our...