Free Republic

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday morning that proponents of Proposition 8 — the voter initiative in 2008 that amended the state constitution to say “only marriage between a man and a woman” is valid in California — have legal standing to defend the measure in court. That means the matter can proceed to the Ninth District Court of Appeals for a ruling on the merits of the measure. The legal question before the Supreme Court was procedural and unrelated to the substantive question of the constitutional validity of Prop. 8. It only assessed whether proponents of the measure can...

Practically everyone expects California Attorney General Kamala Harris to win re-election handily in November. The Democrat won 53 percent of the vote in a crowded June primary. A rising star expected to ascend someday to the governorship, perhaps a U.S. Senate seat, Harris has won the endorsement of major newspapers in the state. She's such an attractive candidate that even though it was true, President Barack Obama had to apologize last year for calling her "by far the best-looking attorney general in the country." Yet Harris faces two unusual obstacles in the November runoff. One is Ron Gold, a never-elected...