Why California’s Discriminatory Proposition 8 Might Not Stand

By Karen Ocamb, AlterNet

New legal actions from businesses like Google to civil rights organizations are threatening to get Prop. 8 off the books.

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Equality Summit Interview: NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell

Towleroad correspondent Brad Willis, who filed a report earlier today from Saturday’s ‘Equality Summit’ in Los Angeles, sat down with Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, to discuss Proposition 8, Obama’s civil rights agenda, and moving forward in the campaign for marriage equality.

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Arguments in Place as Prop. 8 Hearing Nears

by Bob Egelko, The San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

In thousands of pages, the combatants in the Proposition 8 fight have made their case to the state Supreme Court. On one side: the people’s right to amend their Constitution and define marriage. On the other side: the courts’ duty to protect minorities, such as gays and lesbians, from the tyranny of the majority.
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NAACP Joins Proposition 8 Challenge

Supporting minority rights in same sex battle
By John Payton
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has filed a friend of the court brief challenging California’s Proposition 8, the voter-approved referendum against gay marriage ban, on the grounds that the basic rights of a minority group cannot be taken away by a simple majority.

read more in the Portland Observer

Thoughts on The Lawsuit Challenging Prop 8

Both the defenders of Prop 8 and its challengers have filed their briefs with the California Supreme Court in the litigation seeking to overturn the popular vote that has reinstated a ban on same-sex marriage. (Amicus briefs were filed on January 15.) A number of commentators have opined that those seeking to have Prop 8 invalidated have little chance of success. My view: not so fast.

read more from Hunter of Justice 01.16.09
read more on the amicus briefs filed in the Prop 8 legal challenge

Prop 8 Ours to Lose? Nope – It Was Always an Uphill Climb

By Matt Foreman

A lot of people have been saying that Prop 8 was our side’s to lose and that missteps by the No on 8 Campaign snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Those analyses ignore hard core obstacles and fundamentals underlying the contest, including how hard it is to hold and move opinions on marriage in the narrow confines of a campaign.

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Attorney General Brown Renews Call for California Supreme Court to Strike Down Proposition 8

Sacramento, California – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today renewed his call for the California Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8 because it deprives people of the right to marry – an aspect of liberty that the Supreme Court has concluded is guaranteed by the California Constitution.

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Briefing Concludes in Prop 8 Legal Challenge

Nation’s top civil rights groups and legal scholars agree: Invalidate Prop 8
1.21.09 – In the last round of an expedited briefing schedule, final briefs were filed today by both petitioners and respondents in the lawsuits challenging Proposition 8. The briefs filed today by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU responded to the more than 60 amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” briefs filed in the case last week.

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read the Petitioners’ response to amicus curiae briefs (pdf)

Family Law Specialists Argue That Proposition 8 Must Be Invalidated as Unconstitutional Attempt to Repeal Inalienable Rights

Los Angeles Certified Family Law Specialist Leslie Shear, as lead author on behalf of the California Association of Certified Family Law Specialists (ACFLS) joined by the Northern California Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers has filed an amicus brief in support of Attorney General Jerry Brown’s position that the California Supreme Court must hold Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

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California Democrats Driving Gay-Rights Measures

By Aurelio Rojas, Sacramento Bee

Senate Resolution 7 and House Resolution 5 would make it official state policy that Proposition 8 was an invalid revision to the California Constitution. It would also set forth that any change to the constitution that would eliminate a fundamental right from a minority group must be passed by the Legislature before being placed on the ballot.

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