On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court ruled that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown have no legal obligation to appeal U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision, which found Prop 8 unconstitutional. Earlier this month, the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Sacramento reached the same conclusion.
The deadline for the state to appeal the Prop 8 decision effectively expired yesterday, but according to the Christian News Wire and Gayopolis, former attorney general candidate John Eastman along with a group of conservative Prop 8 supporters have turned their sights and efforts at an appeal to California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado, who favors Prop 8. It remains unclear whether Maldonado will pursue an appeal.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear Prop 8 appeal arguments beginning in December, but at this time, it remains unclear just who will present those arguments. The coalition that originally sponsored Prop 8 has filed an appeal, but opponents of the measure question whether they have legal standing to do so because they were not named as a party in the original lawsuit and because, as the Christian Science Monitor reports, legal standing to an appeal requires “direct, personal injury.”
According to the Christian Science Monitor’s report, some experts predict that the appeal could be dismissed due to lack of legal standing.
Other experts take a different view. “It is my expectation that the California Supreme Court, and even possibly the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, will allow some entity, possibly private, to make the arguments on behalf of Proposition 8 that are necessary for a full and complete hearing as to the law’s validity,” San Diego Attorney Dwight Ritter, a partner at Ritter & Associates, told the Christian Science Monitor. “My prediction is that some private group will be given the opportunity to argue the law’s constitutionality.”
