Legal Challenges Filed Against Prop 8

Rights groups filed a writ petition with the California Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to invalidate a state constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. Proposition 8, which was approved by about 52 percent of California voters Tuesday, provides that "[o]nly marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." The writ petition, filed by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of Equality California and six same-sex couples who want to marry, asks the court to stay enforcement of the amendment until the litigation is resolved. The petition alleges that Proposition 8 is not a valid amendment but rather a constitutional revision, which under provisions of the California Constitution must be approved by the state Legislature. In a press release, Lambda Legal attorney Jenny Pizer said:

If the voters approved an initiative that took the right to free speech away from women, but not from men, everyone would agree that such a measure conflicts with the basic ideals of equality enshrined in our constitution. Proposition 8 suffers from the same flaw - it removes a protected constitutional right - here, the right to marry - not from all Californians, but just from one group of us. That's too big a change in the principles of our constitution to be made just by a bare majority of voters.