Your Prop Eight Update

Molasses in Winter. Drip by drip.

Ok, back to the never ending Prop 8 saga.

When last we left our plucky little amendment that couldn't, freedom was inches away from ringing all over California. Wedding bells that is. To catch us up to speed, from all the way back:

• June of 2008, Same sex couples in California started getting married. I mean sure all the crops failed, THE earthquake happened, rained burning hail, all of that, yes.
• November of 2008, 52.2 % of Californians voting, changed the State Constitution to only opposite sex couples could get married. (About 600,000 more people voted for prop 8 than against it.) As of, I think, that day. BUT , lots of couples had been married since June. They got to stay married. So, one day, you had rights, literally , the next day, you did not.
• May 26th, 2009, The California Supreme Court upheld prop 8, case moves to Federal court
• August 4th, 2010, Vaughn R. Walker, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rules that Prop 8 violated Federal Law. " get me to the church on time" - except Judge Walker and the next level up put a stay on weddings until December.

this is where things get fuzzy.

• Prop 8 , the actual case was Perry v. Schwarzenegger ( you know, the Governator) , BUT the Governor AND Attorney General Brown chose NOT to defend the Federal legality of prop 8. From Wikipedia :

"Attorney General Brown chose not to defend the lawsuit, saying that Proposition 8 violates the 14th Amendment and should be struck down.[8][20] Governor Schwarzenegger took a more neutral path,[18] saying that he supported the lawsuit because the Proposition 8 conflict asks "important constitutional questions that require and warrant judicial determination". None of the state officials named in the suit sought to defend the law in court.
Two groups, the official proponents of Proposition 8 led by Dennis Hollingsworth, and a rival group, the Campaign for California Families, sought to intervene as defendants. The court allowed the official proponents to intervene, filling the void left by the state officials' acquiescence. The judge denied the request from the Campaign for California Families."

Tomes have been written at what a massive fail these groups defence was.

• AGAIN, The State of California ( Schwarzenegger and Brown ) chose NOT to appeal Judge Walkers ruling, meaning , as far as I can tell, that POP those corks baby, freedom comes to California! -BUT the parties that were allowed to argue the case sued to force the state to appeal, BECAUSE it us VERY unclear to, well , everyone, that, if the party that lost the case does not appeal - can anyone?

SO, are you caught up ?

• TONIGHT! The California Supreme Court rules that California DOES NOT have to appeal the case. From the San Francisco Chronicle : " The state Supreme Court refused to come to the aid of California's embattled ban on same-sex marriage Wednesday, denying a conservative group's request to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal a federal judge's ruling striking down the voter-approved measure.The state officials' decision not to argue in support of Proposition 8 has raised questions about whether anyone is legally qualified to defend it in court. The Pacific Justice Institute filed suit last week, arguing that the California Constitution requires Brown to defend the state's laws." ( the rest )

SO NOW! - we wait for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to rule first on IF anyone other than the party that lost the case can appeal it. If they say no, then its over and California has marriage equality, if yes, then they hear the case, which will then go all the way to the big dog Supreme Court with all those GOPers...

I've stated before, I do not think that this is the case to bring to Washington, I feel that the case from Massachusetts seems to be more concrete, but what the heck do I know, really.