9th Circuit Wants Help With Prop. 8

January 04, 2011

Posted by Neal Broverman on advocate.com:

"The ninth circuit court of appeals is asking the California supreme court to advise on whether antigay groups have standing to appeal a federal judge's decision that struck down Proposition 8.

"In documents released on the ninth circuit's website, the federal appeals court indicates it isn’t certain if groups like Protect Marriage have standing to pursue an appeal, since the current governor and attorney general of California are declining to defend the initiative, which narrowly passed in November 2008.

"Both Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris support the August 2010 ruling of Vaughn Walker, which declared the antigay measure unconstitutional (the previous governor and attorney general, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, respectively, took the same position).

"A three-judge panel of the ninth circuit heard arguments in December related to both constitutionality and appellants’ standing.

"'Having considered the parties’ briefs and arguments, we are now convinced the Proponents’ claim to standing depends on Proponents’ particularized interests created by state law or their authority under state law to defend the constitutionality of the initiative, which rights it appears to us have not yet been clearly defined by the Court,' judges state in the website documents. 'We therefore request clarification in order to determine whether we have jurisdiction to decide this case.'

"The ninth circuit did deny standing to officials in California's Imperial County — that county's board of supervisors and a deputy clerk hoped to intervene in the federal challenge to Proposition 8 and defend the initiative."

Click to read the full post and vew court documents: [Link]