Photo Credits: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
By Bay City News Service
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the sponsors of Proposition 8 had no standing, or legal authority, to appeal a trial court ruling that struck down the statewide ban on same-sex marriage.
The decision has the effect of reinstating a 2010 ruling in which U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said the ban violated the federal constitutional rights to equal treatment and due process.
Gov. Jerry Brown and state Attorney General Kamala Harris had refused to appeal Walker's ruling, and the high court said today that proponents of a voter initiative don't have the right to defend it on appeal if state officials decline to do so.
In another decision today, the court by a 5-4 vote struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which had prohibited the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex marriage.
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera has said that in the event that the Supreme Court ruled on the standing issue, he expected same-sex weddings in the California to resume by late July.
That timing includes 25 days in which Proposition 8 sponsors could ask the court for a rehearing, plus several days for a federal appeals court to issue a mandate dismissing the appeal.
But there could be further litigation about the scope of the trial court ruling striking down Proposition 8.
Herrera and lawyers for two couples who challenged Proposition 8 say the injunction issued by Walker requires California officials to license and register same-sex marriages statewide.
The sponsors of Proposition 8 have said in court filings, however, that they think Walker's injunction would apply only to the two individual couples who challenged Proposition 8.
The couples, who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in San Francisco in 2009, are Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier of Berkeley and Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo of Burbank.
Perry, 48, and Stier, 50, were on the front steps of the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. when the decision was announced, according to ABC 7 News.
Oakland community groups have plans for a celebration at 5:30 p.m. at 19th Street and Telegraph Avenue, with participants convening at that intersection before moving on to dance parties at nearby bars and clubs.
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