California Court Upholds Marriage Amendment

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California Court Upholds Marriage Amendment

Special Report - May 26, 2009
The California Supreme Court upheld the state’s constitutional amendment Tuesday, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman, after it received more than 7 million votes on the November 2008 ballot. Shortly after the 2008 election, opponents of the amendment filed a lawsuit, Strauss v. Horton, in the California State Supreme Court, asking the court to strike down the amendment, in defiance of the right of Californians to amend their state constitution. The court’s opinion released May 26 rejected that argument by upholding the passage of Proposition 8. However, the court went on to maintain that the same-sex marriage licenses issued between May 2008, when the same court struck down California’s Defense of Marriage Act, Proposition 22, to usher in same-sex marriage and the passage of the state constitutional marriage amendment, Proposition 8, in November 2008, would remain valid.

“In America, we respect the results of fair elections. The California Supreme Court arrived at the only correct conclusion available. The people of California have a fundamental right to amend their own constitution,” said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks in a press release Tuesday afternoon. ADF attorneys were involved in defending California’s marriage amendment Proposition 8 against Strauss v. Horton.

“While we are very glad the decision of voters in California to amend their Constitution was upheld by their Supreme Court, we are saddened by the fact that our own legislative leaders here in North Carolina refuse to allow the voters to have the opportunity to adopt our own constitutional amendment." responded Bill Brooks, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council. " If we had the ballot and initiative procedure to bypass the legislature as they do in California, I am sure voters in North Carolina would have passed an amendment six years ago."