Supreme Court on Prop 8: Gay Marriage Legal in California

No precedent on gay marriage in the Prop 8 case. The S. Ct. does not decide, 5-4. Roberts, Scalia, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan majority.

Source

Decision

A great day for equal treatment under the law in the US!

The Supreme Court has dismissed a closely-watched appeal over same-sex marriage on jurisdictional grounds, ruling Wednesday private parties do not have "standing" to defend California's voter-approved ballot measure barring gay and lesbians couples from state-sanctioned wedlock. The ruling permits same-sex couples in California to legally marry. The 5-4 decision avoids for now a sweeping conclusion on whether same-sex marriage is a constitutionally-protected "equal protection" right that would apply to all states. The case is Hollingsworth v. Perry (12-144).

Source

It should be noted that the SC did not rule on the constitutionality of the supposed right of homosexuality etc, but that it said that at this time they lacked "jurisdiction" to decide the matter and left it at that.

Great news for all
Now everyone can be miserable
In a years time no one will be moaning about this, now we can concentrate on other issues.
Oh and just a quick question to our gay community here on ATS...are you going to get wed? and can I come to the party

Condragulations to my home state!

One step closer to Equality

for all the Straight allies out there, as one person, i thank you for standing up for Equality, for wanting equality for all,

to others in the LGBT commutation who are living with this fight for equality, that must sit by as others 'Vote' on what we can and can't do, and what is considered 'Legal' as a Human thank you for staying strong

Unity in Equality

reply to post by Darth_Prime


I think you should celebrate and give us a pic of you in drag loads of us want to see it...so get your glad rags on and post a pic

I'm rather irritated by this decision. Not that I care about gay marriage - rather I'm upset about how this effects the will of the people to decide how they are governed.

Let us not forget it was a popular majority (in a democracy) that voted to approve Prop 8 via ballot measure and then again by an injunction when it was overturned via the district courts.

This decision means that the will of the people to govern themselves via ballot measure / initiaves cannot be challenged if it is overturned by the states supreme court.

This just doesn't effect gay marriage. It effects ANY BALLOT MEASURE FOR ANYTHING.
So, the LGBT got a victory - but at what cost?

Read Justice Kennedy's dissenting argument here

Originally posted by boymonkey74
reply to post by Darth_Prime

 

I think you should celebrate and give us a pic of you in drag

loads of us want to see it...so get your glad rags on and post a pic

One day honey, this is still a Conspiracy Forum after all

reply to post by Darth_Prime


It's only a conspiracy if you wear a kilt.

And no mention of a haggis surprise, please!!

Oo

Equality is not something that should be voted on in the first place though, if so let it be a state decision on Straight Marriage too,

whilst this is about our right to marry, it is also a bigger picture of Equality for all humans

Equality? In my book of mathematics, that would be 50/50; not 99/1. People better start looking at the big picture. The system is corrupt from point A to point Z. We're waaaaaay passed the "wake up" call.

reply to post by Darth_Prime


I'm with you - but this decision wasn't about equality. Can't you see that? The Supreme Court avoided that decision.

Now, if you are a California resident - the only way you can effect the way you are governed is by the electoral process (electing the governor, attorney general etc).

And if those you elect decide to change their position on something - well to bad so sad! It cannot be challened via ballot measure now. All the elected legislators have to do is decline to defend the ballot measure and it becomes invalid, due to this decision by the Supreme Court.

THAT is the problem with this decision. Gays got equality (Great!) but now we are the behest of our perpetually elected officials (Not Great). Case in point - Jerry Brown....

And this doesn't just effect California...it effects EVERY State that has ballot initiaves in place.

Justice Kennedy's dissenting opinion:

In the end, what the Court fails to grasp or accept is thebasic premise of the initiative process. And it is this. The essence of democracy is that the right to make law rests inthe people and flows to the government, not the other way around. Freedom resides first in the people without need of a grant from government. The California initiative process embodies these principles and has done so for over a century. “Through the structure of its government, and the character of those who exercise government authority,a State defines itself as sovereign.” Gregory v. Ashcroft, 501 U. S. 452, 460 (1991). In California and the 26 other States that permit initiatives and popular referendums, the people have exercised their own inherent sovereign right to govern themselves. The Court today frustrates that choice by nullifying, for failure to comply with the Restatement of Agency, a State Supreme Court decisionholding that state law authorizes an enacted initiative’sproponents to defend the law if and when the State’s usuallegal advocates decline to do so. The Court’s opinion fails to abide by precedent and misapplies basic principles of justiciability. Those errors necessitate this respectfuldissent.

Interesting in this case is that he is supported by Justice Sotomayor, Alito and Thomas. Sotomayor has been known to be very liberal and a LGBT supporter. Only Thomas, Alito and Kennedy are the ultra-conservatives. The swing is typically Roberts (who was majority in this case).

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Heya Ben~

Me and my best friend who I gew up with KC who I work with have been talking about this in the office and she is totally stoked, as this is a big leap for the LGBT community and I am very happy about this for my friend KC and the rest of the LGBT community.

Congratulations, I know this is a problem that most didn't think would change and I am happy that the supreme court deamed this unconstitutional as I believe you should be able to marry anyone you want... Unless it's a animal... That's just weird and a different topic all together.

Again, congratz!~

From her she stated: "Chicago is going to be crazy this weekend as it's pride week and not only that but we have the Hawks parade..." STAY OUT OF CHICAGO, it's gonna be a wild weekend!

i'll concur that the fight for equality is not over, and this is not the 'Ultimate Win' for California as it was basically 'Won' by default,

this is only a minor step in Equality, but a step in the right direction

Having paid attention to the 2 cases where the decisions were let out today, the following can be stated:

Prop 8 case was not the one to watch, the one to watch was the DOMA case. The justices simply put, that this was a local jurisdiction case, that it it was not in the perview to make a decision on, nor should it have gone that far, if the district court and the court higher both had ruled in such. And further what the Justices are also looking at is that the government failing to step up to the plate and actually defend the law itself.

While it has bearing in California, the one more interesting read was the opinion and descenting of the DOMA case which will have more of an impact on the country and gay marriage for years to come.

reply to post by sulaw


The SC didn't say it was unconstitutional, they just said they declined to uphold Prop 8.

The California Constitution allowed same sex marriage.
Some people introduced Prop 8 and it passed.
But the California courts said, "No, Prop 8 is unconstitutional" (according to the California Constitution) and struck it down.
So, the Prop 8 people appealed to the US Supreme Court and they declined to rule on it, leaving it up to the California courts, which had ruled Prop 8 as unconstitutional (according to the California Constitution).

For those who think a ruling just gave anyone equality I am sad for you. This is and was never about equality. No one was voting to make gay illegal, they were voting to grant legal status to a union between other than a man/woman relationship, and that did not pass. Now it has been overturned, and will be upheld in state courts showing that people cannot vote for their own governing and even if they do, these that are appointed with still chose for us.


Also can anyone show me how this brought about equality in any way, other than now all might need permission from the state for their relationships?

its a small step toward moving forward, people are just celebrating this small victory as loud as possible as they should be

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


I see, grammatical misinterpretation on mine and my friends part. I'm not wholly policatlly saavy in those departments...

Regardless I wanted to say congratulations to everyone in the LBGT community on ATS as it is a small step in the right direction and I really don't see why this wasn't done a long time ago.

But since i'm not part of that community i'm not up to par with everything that has transpired over the years only that which I hear from the grapevine.

Hopefully this will set a precedence for other states to follow suit and set this issue right and to rest.

reply to post by FuturePeace


Yes Girl,

we celebrate today, and tomorrow we continue the fight for justice and unity in equality