Prop 8 ruling

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Mike

The Ninth Circuit has come out with a ruling on the Prop 8 case. There were three issues before the Court: 1) do the Prop 8 proponents have standing?; 2) should Judge Walker’s decision be summarily dismissed because he is gay and has a long-time partner?; and 3) is Prop 8 constitutional?

The judges were unanimous on the first 2 points (standing, dismissal), ruling that the proponents had standing and denying summary dismissal. The 2-1 majority decided that Prop 8 was unconstitutional, but ruling only on Prop 8 in the narrow sense that it “stripped same sex couples of the ability they previously possessed” to marry under CA law (Equal Protection argument). They do not decide on the constitutionality of SSM.

For the SCOTUS nerds, the majority was written by Judge Reinhardt (Judge Hawkins concurring) and the dissent by Judge Randy Smith. I don’t have the exact stats, but I know that Judge Reinhardt is one of the, if not the, judge whose opinions are most frequently reversed by SCOTUS.

Filed under: gay marriage | Tagged: , | 11 Comments »