U.S. court puts on hold Calif. same-sex marriage until Dec.
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A federal appeals court put on hold Monday the Proposition 8 regarding same-sex marriage in California until at least December when it considers broader constitutional questions.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said in a brief order that it would hold a hearing in early December on whether it would even hear an appeal of a judge's ruling striking down Proposition 8, the voter-approved measure that banned same-sex marriage in the state.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco ruled on Aug. 4 that Proposition 8, which was approved by California voters in 2008, violated the 14th Amendment that guarantees equal protection to all Americans.
He put a stay on the ruling and, with opponents of same-sex marriage arguing that weddings should not be permitted until the case is heard by appellate courts to avoid confusion, he ruled last week that the stay should be lifted at 5 p.m. Wednesday, pending any intervention by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Attorneys for ProtectMarriage.com appealed Walker's decision and requested that a stay remain in effect until the appeal is heard.
The appellate panel indicated on Monday it wants to hear arguments about whether ProtectMarriage.com has legal standing to pursue the appeal at a hearing held during the week of Dec. 6 in San Francisco.
It ordered both sides to present arguments on whether the campaign for Proposition 8 has legal authority to appeal Walker's order. Until that hearing, same-sex marriages will remain on hold.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown, both as the original defendants in the lawsuit, have declined to appeal the case.
California voters approved Proposition 22, which specified in state law that only marriages between a man and a woman are valid in California in March 2000. Eighty years later, the state Supreme Court ruled the law was unconstitutional because it discriminated against gays, and an estimated 18,000 same-sex couples got married in the ensuing months.
Opponents of same-sex marriage quickly got Proposition 8 on the November 2008 ballot to amend the state constitution, and it was approved by a margin of 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent. The approval led to statewide protests and lawsuits challenging the legality of Proposition 8.
In May 2009, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, but also ruled that the unions of roughly 18,000 same-sex couples who were wed in 2008 would remain valid.
