February 26, 2008
California Supremes Ready for Marriage Case on March 4: The California same-sex marriage case will be heard by the state Supreme Court on March 4. The justices will then have 90 days to issue their ruling. The case is a consolidation of several lawsuits challenging state law that limits marriage to opposite-sex couples. Plaintiffs include the city of San Francisco, Equality California and same-sex couples.
In 2005 and 2007, the state Legislature passed bills to legalize same-sex marriage, the only times any U.S. legislature has done so. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed both bills. California has a domestic-partnership law that grants registered gay couples all state-level rights and obligations of marriage, but the plaintiffs view domestic partnership as a separate and not-fully-equal institution.
Meanwhile, anti-gay activists are collecting voter signatures to try to put initiatives on the November ballot that would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage or both amend the constitution and undo the domestic-partnership law.
A constitutional amendment would trump laws passed by the Legislature and, amendment proponents believe, override any state court rulings legalizing same-sex marriage.
More:
http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/02/california-supremes-ready-for-marriage.html