The Countdown Begins!
The battle over Prop 8 in California has gone through many stages since November 4th. In previous posts I've mentioned Keith Olbermann's comments on Prop 8's passage, the infamous "Prop 8 - The Musical," and recently there has been a lot of news about the disclosure and level of campaign donations from Prop 8 supporters. Earlier this week, however, we began to see some movement on Strauss et al. v. Horton, the case in the California Supreme Court challenging the legality of Proposition 8, as oral arguments have been scheduled for March 5th.
The case challenges Proposition 8 on constitutionality grounds. According to Article XVIII of the California Constitution, an amendment to the Constitution can come through a public referendum, like we saw on November 4th, but a revision must be given higher scrutiny. They argue that this is not only a broad-based stripping of rights, but that singling out one community to deny equal protection negates the importance of the Constitution in protecting minority groups from being subject to the arbitrary will of the majority. The American Constitution Society has a number of articles that also help explain these arguments.
The Union for Reform Judaism joined other faith and civil rights organizations to file an amicus brief on January 13th , in opposition to Prop 8 and in support of marriage equality. Additionally, Equality California is having a lobby day on February 17th to encourage support for two resolutions in the California state legislature that would make it the state's official stance that Prop 8 should be invalidated. We will continue to follow this important case and encourage you to do the same!