The 3rd District Court of Appeals in Sacramento on Wednesday decided not to compel California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger or Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling, which struck down Proposition 8 last month.
The Pacific Justice Institute, the conservative legal group that has been pushing for an appeal, claims that state officials have a constitutional obligation to uphold California’s laws and must, therefore, appeal Judge Walker’s decision. The deadline for the state to appeal the ruling is September 11, but Brown, who believes that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, and Schwarzenegger have stated that they have no plans to do so.
Other groups, including the coalition that originally sponsored Prop 8, have already filed appeals, but as the Associated Press reports, “doubts have been raised about whether its members have authority to do so because as ordinary citizens they are not responsible for enforcing marriage laws.”
