Update on H8: Supreme Court to Hear Challenges

 State Supreme Court to hear challenges to Prop. 8:

The state Supreme Court plunged back into the same-sex marriage wars today, agreeing to decide the legality of a ballot measure that repealed the right of gay and lesbian couples to wed in California. 

At the urging of both sponsors and opponents of Proposition 8, the justices voted 6-1 to grant review of lawsuits challenging the Nov. 4 initiative, with Justice Joyce Kennard dissenting.

Same-sex marriage will remain on hold while the court considers Prop 8's constitutionality; the court will also determine whether the 18,000 marriages between same-sex couples will be rendered null by Prop 8.

How Prop 8 is contested will largely depend on those decisions. For example, if it's declared constitutional, but the 18,000 marriage are grandfathered in, that's going to create a very different set of legal circumstances than if Prop 8 is declared constitutional and the marriages are nullified.

Stay tuned ...