In Stauss v. Horton, the Supreme Court of CA ruled that Prop 8 was a legitimate amendment to the CA Constitution, that existing CA domestic-partnership laws remained in effect, that same-sex marriages which occurred before the passage of Prop 8 were still valid, and that Prop 8 carved out a narrow exception for equal access to the term "marriage." Strauss v. Horton was the combination of three lawsuits filed by same-sex couples and various CA cities against the State of CA and some of its officials. ProtectMarriage.com, who sponsored Prop 8, was granted permission under CA law to participate in the defense of the case alongside the State of CA.
In Perry v. Schwarzenegger later Perry v. Brown, the same-sex couples appealed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of CA, which is in the federal court system. Judge Walker held a bench trial and ruled that Prop 8 violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The decision was stayed pending appeal.
In Perry v. Brown, the Prop 8 proponents (defendant-intervenors) appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th Circuit asked the Supreme Court of CA to decide whether or not the Prop 8 defendant-intervenors could defend the State's interests in the State's refusal to do so. The CA Supreme Court ruled that they did have legal standing to defend it. The 9th Cicrcuit upheld the ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of CA (Judge Walker) that Prop 8 was unconstitutional.
In Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Prop 8 proponents appealed to the SCOTUS. They ruled that the Prop 8 intervenors did not have legal standing to appeal the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of CA to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. SCOTUS remanded the case back to the 9th Circuit with instructions to dismiss the appeal for lack of standing.
However the case got to SC and the SC decision the other day, PEOPLE’S WILL had been thwarted.
Does this mean the governor’s demand clerks (statewide) start issuing licenses for them to marry was an unlawful act by the governor? Would be great to see moonbeam in jail.
So is Walker’s stay still in effect or does his ruling against Prop 8 take effect? And if stayed, the the moment the 9th doe what they were told - dismiss - then Walker is free to lift his stay (if it doesn’t automatically expire on its own).