CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR ARGUMENTS AGAINST PROP 8

According to today's LA Times, the California Supreme Court voted 6-1 to hear arguments against proposition 8, the now infamous anti-gay marriage amendment.

The fact that the court agreed to hear arguments does, on one hand, seem to be a good sign that the proposition may be overturned. The easiest thing for them to do if they were sure they would let proposition 8 stand, would have been to simply refuse to hear the case at all. But, since they refused a concurrent request to stay the proposition and allow same-sex marriages to continue until a final decision is made, makes it very difficult to read their intentions.

UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu said "A stay is an extraordinary measure," and the court's refusal to put Proposition 8 on hold pending a ruling did not suggest that the court would eventually uphold the measure.

UCLA law professor Brad Sears, an expert on sexual orientation law, said "If the justices were really leaning towards upholding Prop. 8, and that was clear, they would have wanted to do it as quickly as possible and put the issue to rest." The delay, he said, could indicate that the justices were divided and needed time to resolve the issues.

The court did say that they would expedite the proceedings and it's possible that they could hold hearings on the lawsuits as early as March. That's a timetable law scholars said was swift considering the complexity and importance of the legal issues.

When propostion 8 passed, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he expected the court to overturn the proposition and indicated that he favored that outcome. A terse statement made through an aide today said, "The governor believes the Supreme Court ought to bring clarity to this issue."

I couldn't agree more. I am personally, albiet guardedly, optimistic that they will end up overturning it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

To read the full story, go to: LA Times