Alice In Wonderland, California style

[MsGuy]

Gov. Schwartzenegger ® & Atty. Gen. Brown (D), the named defendants in the California gay marriage case, have both declined to appeal Judge Walker's decision striking down Prop. 8, saying that they agree with the decision. A private group, ProtectMarriage.com, has tried to file an appeal but Judge Walker has ruled that the group is not a party to the case and lacks legal standing to appeal "Standing" is a set of concepts courts use to restrict who can bring a case.

So if the 9th Circuit finds with Walker that ProtectMarriage.com lacks standing to pursue an appeal, for better or for worse Prop. 8 disappears down the rabbit hole of history without benefit of being prayed over by the 9th Circuit and, ultimately, SCOTUS. For more details, see this article in the LATimes.

The idea of this case being heard by SCOTUS makes my stomach churn and I certainly can't argue with the result, but somehow it doesn't sit right that a case of this importance would be decided on anything but its merits. Oh well, it is California.

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Edit: It just gets weirder. If ProtectMarriage.com doesn't have standing to appeal, perhaps Judge Walker shouldn't have allowed it to conduct the defense of Prop. 8 to begin with. Maybe the 9th Circuit should remand the case with directions for a new trial.

[Guest twinklover]

Very interesting. Read the court's stay decision and discussion of standing. The court could allow the Prop 8 proponents to argue the case before the district court as intervenors but the Prop 8 proponents may nonetheless lack standing to appeal. There are different standards for intervention and standing to appeal. http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Slideshows/_production/twip_100812_/GayMarriageStayOrder.pdf Wow, this case is bound to create new law in more ways than one. A recent poll now shows a majority of Americans support gay marriage 52% to 46%. This should not be a conservative versus liberal or Republican versus Democrat issue. More and more people are coming around to the inevitable acceptance and legalization of gay marriage. If the issue does get to the US Supreme Court, let's hope Justice Kennedy is one of those people. I believe he is. Will any other of the conservative Justices join him? Ted Olson seems to think there's a chance of that as well. I'm going out on a big limb: All of these various sexual orientation cases can be disposed of on equal protection grounds if one accepts the idea that it is not rational to discriminate solely on the basis of sexual orientation. I think we're getting there.