As expected - at least one party in the tustle over Prop 8 and the gay-marriage ban in California - would end up lodging an appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the the heels of the ruling handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker.
In view of a court's finding yesterday - in a controversial 138-page ruling that essentially found that Prop 8 was unconstitutional - supporters of the Prop 8 ballot initiative (backed by California voters) found themeselves hot-footing it down to the Federal Courthouse overnight to protect their vested interest in opposite-sex marriage and family values.
Background
Post: 08/05/10
http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2010/08/proposition-8judge-overurns-ban-on-gay.html
In a nutshell, opponents to gay-marriage must now convince a higher court that District Court Judge Vaughn Walker erred as a matter of law when he ruled that Proposition 8 violated Federal Equal Protection and Due Process Laws.
In spite of the fact the 9th Circuit court has no specified deadlines to be mindful of in respect to a review of the issues ripe for appeal, the supporters of Prop 8 and oppositie-sex marriages proceeded to file their deliberate "Notice of Appeal" with the court (based in the San Francisco Bay area) post haste.
The appeal will be randomly assigned to a three-judge panel with little brouhaha.
In accordance with Appellate Court Rules of Procedure, each party in the action will be required to lodge a brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals - at which point - a date will be set by the Court clerk for an oral hearing so that the issues may be clarified further to the satisfaction of the Justices presiding over the proceedings.
A disgruntled party - unhappy with the 9th Circuit Court ruling thereafter - will be entitled to launch an appeal with the highest court in the land after that which is the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington (D.C.).
However, the 9 sitting Justices are not required to "hear' the appeal.
A petition for a hearing on the issues may be denied by the court without explanation - at which point - the lower court ruling becomes binding (law).
The Prop 8 supporters are going to give it their best shot, though.
"This ruling, if allowed to stand, threatens not only Prop 8 in California but the laws in 45 other states that define marriage as one man and one woman," said Brian Brown, the Prresident of the National Organization for Marriage, which helped fund the 2008 campaign that led to the gay marriage ban.
Currently, same-sex couples can only legally wed in Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.
The appeal to the 9th Circuit filed on the heels of Walker's landmark ruling, was lodged by Protect Marriage, which is a coalition of religious and conservative groups that sponsored Proposition 8.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown wisely chose to watch from the sidelines and remain out of the fray.
No comments:
Post a Comment