[Marxism] Cal AG Brown asks court to overturn Proposition 8

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Plus just in case you thought we didn't have Kenneth Starr to kick around
any more. FF)

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/12/20/2008-12-20_california_at
torney_general_jerry_brown_.html?print=1&page=all

California Attorney General Jerry Brown urges court to overturn Prop 8
BY NANCY DILLON 
DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF 

Saturday, December 20th 2008, 4:00 AM 

LOS ANGELES - In a surprising reversal, California Attorney General Jerry
Brown is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, the ban
on gay marriage approved by voters last month.

Brown, whose job it is to defend state laws and who earlier said he would
support the amendment, argued yesterday that the framers of the state
constitution never intended "to put a group's right to enjoy liberty to a
popular vote." 

The court is expected to hear the case in March. 

"Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be
used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling
justification," Brown said in a statement. 

He said the estimated 18,000 gay marriages that took place between June 16
and Nov. 4 are valid regardless of whether Proposition 8 is upheld. 

But Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who led the investigation
into former President Clinton, asked the state Supreme Court to invalidate
those marriages. 

Starr, 62, in legal briefs, said gay marriages performed before the ballot
measure outlawed the weddings should be revoked. 

Stephanie Anne Davies, 47, a Brooklyn writer who married her partner of 13
years in California in October, was elated by Brown's action. 

"It's exciting that somebody in such a high legal office is saying that this
is a fundamental right that needs to be protected," she said. 

ndillon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



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