QBits

California Attorney General Makes The Case For Equality (by ThinkProgress TP)

“And it is one thing to read the polls, which we have discussed which show again that a majority of Americans are in favor of same sex marriage, but it is more important to read the Constitution. And the Constitution of the United States dictates, I believe, under every court precedent that we have discussed in terms of describing marriage as a fundamental right that the same-sex couples that are before the United states supreme court — Mrs. Windsor, Miss Perry — be allowed to have equal protection under the laws as any Americans when it comes to their ability to join themselves with their loving partners in marriage and raise their children. And 61% of Californians are in favor of same-sex marriage.”

Daniel’s Letter To Chief Justice Roberts (by depfox)

Daniel’s letter is likely better than most of the briefs submitted to SCOTUS for the Prop 8 case. Have tissues at hand.

Q.

Supreme Court On Gay Marriage: Prop 8, DOMA To Receive Hearings

And the fun begins…

Q.

Posted: 12/07/2012 3:15 pm EST

The United States Supreme Court will review the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down Proposition 8, a 2008 law which banned gay marriage in California.

The appeals court’s ruling issued was issued in February and found the law unconstitutional.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates…

Wait continues: Supreme Court still has not addressed Prop 8, DOMA cases

And the wait goes on but sometimes, no news is good news…

Q.

Ken Williams - SDGLN Editor in Chief
October 1st, 2012

WASHINGTON – For the second consecutive week, the Proposition 8 and Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) cases did not make the list of cases that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up this session, nor were they placed on the list of cases they decline to review.

The nation’s high court begins its new term today, and each Monday the justices publicly announce which cases they will review and which ones they will drop.

The nine justices have reviewed hundreds of cases, including several important ones involving gay rights.

After four long years, Californians are awaiting the resolution of the Proposition 8 case that was ruled unconstitutional by the lower courts in 2010. With no action on the gay rights cases today, the next possible date for an announcement is Oct. 8 and leaves two possible scenarios:

1. The Supreme Court, on Oct. 8, will release the list of cases that it will not consider. If the Prop 8 and/or DOMA cases are placed on that list, then the lower court rulings will stand. Gay and lesbian couples in California would again be able to marry, as soon as the lower courts sign off on the case.

2. However, if the Prop 8 and/or DOMA cases are not on the list, that means the Supreme Court could be postponing any decision on those cases until after the presidential election, making Nov. 19 a highly watched date. There is also the distinct possibility that the justices will merge several high-profile gay-rights cases to review en masse.

Adam D. Umhoefer, executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, said today in an email to supporters:

“News outlets and legal scholars are speculating that we might not hear from the Supreme Court until around Thanksgiving, when all the cases challenging the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) will be eligible for consideration by the Justices.”

Proposition 8 was ruled unconstitutional by the federal district court in San Francisco on Aug. 4, 2010 and upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 7, 2012.

Prop 8 not on Supremes List

One teeny tiny step closer to seeing Prop 8 overturned.

Q.

Prop. 8 Case Update: What’s Next

September 25, 2012

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court released the first list of cases it will hear this Term and AFER’s challenge to Prop. 8 is not on this week’s list

The Justices meet nearly every week to determine the cases they will take up. The next time we could hear something is Monday, October 1 at 9:30 a.m. EDT / 6:30 a.m. PDT, when the Court is expected to release a list of cases it is not hearing this Term.

Some have speculated that the Supreme Court may wait to consider our case until later this fall when the Justices will decide whether to grant review in several cases challenging the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

Nonetheless, AFER will be watching each week’s announcements closely and will keep you updated with the latest information. Please also encourage your friends and family to sign up for our breaking news updates as well.

Proposition 8 was held unconstitutional by the Federal District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals because it violates our Constitution’s central guarantees of liberty and equality for all. Singling out a class of Americans because of who they are and who they love is unfair, unlawful and contrary the basic American values.

If the Supreme Court decides to hear our case, AFER’s legal team led by distinguished co-counsel Ted Olson and David Boies will urge to Court to affirm the fundamental right of all Americans to equally enjoy the freedom to marry the person they love.

If the Supreme Court decides not to hear our case, the landmark February 2012 decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down Prop. 8 will be made permanent, and marriage equality will return to California.

Regardless of what the Court decides, the hopes and dreams of countless gay and lesbian couples in California—and America’s core values—will soon be fulfilled.

LGBT rights take center stage at Supreme Court: What to expect this week

Nice summary.

Q.

By Christopher Stoll, Esq.
Senior Staff Attorney, National Center for Lesbian Rights

On Monday the United States Supreme Court returns from its summer break. From their very first day back on the job, the justices will begin considering what is surely the largest number of LGBT equality cases that they have ever faced in a single term.

And these aren’t just any cases, either. The cases on the Court’s fall docket have the potential to become watershed moments in the history of the LGBT movement.

Depending on what the justices do over the next several weeks, marriage equality may soon be restored in California, the Court may be on its way to striking down a destructive and discriminatory law that denies federal benefits to every married same-sex couple in America, and an important precedent about same-sex domestic partners could be set.

So here’s a breakdown of what to expect.

The Supreme Court Conference

First, some background: The Supreme Court is not required to accept all the cases it is asked to review. In fact, it rarely accepts more than 100 or so of the thousands of cases it is asked to hear each year. The justices hold a conference several times a month at which they vote on whether or not to accept cases that they have been asked to review.

If they take a case, they set the case for argument within a few months and generally issue their decision no later than the last day of the term, in June. If they do not accept a case, the decision of the lower court stands and becomes the final ruling in the case. The justices also have the option to postpone deciding whether to take a case and consider it at a later conference.

On Monday, Sept. 24, the justices will hold their first conference of the new term. It’s a lengthy agenda, given that it includes all the cases that the Court has been asked to review since they held their last conference before the summer break.

The Cases

Three of this year’s potential landmark LGBT equality cases are on that Sept. 24 agenda. The first is the decision of the Ninth Circuit court of appeals earlier this year to uphold Judge Vaughn Walker’s 2010 ruling striking down California’s Proposition 8, which banned marriage for same-sex couples in that state.

The second is a decision from the U.S. District Court in New York striking down Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibits the federal government from recognizing the legal marriages of same-sex couples for any purpose, such as Social Security spousal benefits. The Court has also been asked to review three other challenges to DOMA, and those cases will be on the Court’s conference calendar in the coming weeks.

The third is another Ninth Circuit ruling, which said that an Arizona law that stripped domestic partner benefits from state employees is very likely unconstitutional, so Governor Jan Brewer cannot enforce the ban on benefits until the federal courts issue a final decision in the case.

Proposition 8 Supporters Ask Supreme Court To Keep Marriage Ban

Grasping at straws? Click on the source link to read the petition.

Q.

At issue: Whether amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying is constitutional. Appeals court had struck down the amendment.

Chris Geidner BuzzFeed Staff

Another hot issue could be headed for the Supreme Court. Image by Mark Wilson / Getty Images

Posted Jul 31, 2012 12:58pm EDT

Supporters of California’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying, Proposition 8, have asked the Supreme Court to hear the ongoing challenge to the law in order to reverse an appeals court decision from earlier this year that struck down the amendment as unconstitutional.

Specifically, they ask the court in a filing today to decide “Whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State of California from defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”

Arguing that “[u]nique recognition of a unique relationship in no way disapproves or dishonors other relationships that the State has chosen to recognize differently,” the Proposition 8 proponents ask the court to take the case to correct the “manifest errors” of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and “to return to the People themselves this important and sensitive issue.”

Opponents of Proposition 8 filed the lawsuit challenging the 2008 ballot measure in 2009. The group behind the challenge, the American Foundation for Equal Rights, succeeded at the trial and appeals-court level. They and the state defendants will now have 30 days to respond to the filing, called a petition for a writ of certiorari, before the Supreme Court decides after its summer recess whether it will take the case.

The primary arguments advanced by the proponents in their brief for why the Supreme Court should take the case is because, they argue, the case is “exceedingly important,” the appeals court misinterpreted Supreme Court cases used by the court to strike down the law, and the appeals court was wrong to hold that there was “no legitimate government purpose” for Proposition 8.

Prop 8 Unconstitutional: The Highlight Reel (by AmericanEqualRights)

Nice summary.

Q.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling in Perry v. Brown upholding the historic August 2010 decision of the Federal District Court that found Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

In an opinion authored by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, the Ninth Circuit concluded that Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

“Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples. The Constitution simply does not allow for laws of this sort,” Judge Reinhardt wrote.

“This case is about marriage and equality. Plaintiffs in this case, like millions of other gay and lesbian Americans, are being denied both the right to marry and the right to be treated with equal dignity and respect under the law,” said Plaintiffs’ lead co-counsel Theodore B. Olson. “Under our Constitution, gays and lesbians cannot be denied the most fundamental freedom in American society—the freedom to marry. Today’s momentous decision reminds us that it is time that we, as Americans, treat all of our fellow citizens with fairness and decency.”

(via Rachel Maddow: Citizens presumptively entitled to be treated like other citizens explains Prop 8 defeat)

Prop 8 Video Tapes To Remain Sealed, Ninth Circuit Rules: Read Full Text

by David Badash onFebruary 2, 2012

The video tapes from the Prop 8trial will remain sealed and out of the public’s hands, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled moments ago, much to the displeasure of same-se marriage and free-speech advocates. Offering little more than a claim that “the district court abused its discretion by ordering the unsealing of the recording of the trial,” the court ruled in favor of “ProtectMarriage.com and “Yes on 8,” two of the groups appealing the decision of Judge Vaughn Walker that found Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional in a federal court.

The Courage Campaign released this statement in response:

“We are disappointed in the 9th Circuit’s decision to not release the videotapes from the historic Prop 8 hearing. In our minds, it never made sense that transcripts from the hearing could be easily accessed by anyone but not the videotapes. That just proves that our cowardly opponents knew they did a poor job defending their bigotry and homophobia in court. We sincerely hope this decision does not herald more bad news regarding the unconstitutionality of Prop 8. Lives are depending on it.”

Read the complete decision here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/80268637/Prop-8-tapes-decision-9th-circuit