Breaking: Brown asks state high court to overturn Prop. 8

[slutticus]

(12-19) 17:44 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- State Attorney General Jerry Brown, in a surprise turnabout, asked the state Supreme Court late today to overturn Proposition 8, saying the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates basic rights guaranteed in the state Constitution.

Brown, whose office requires him to defend state laws unless he cannot find reasonable legal grounds to do so, said after Prop. 8 passed Nov. 4 that he would support the initiative before the state's high court.

But in a lengthy filing late today, he argued that the measure was "inconsistent with the guarantees of individual liberty" in California's governing charter.


Link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/19/BA6514RNVU.DTL&type=politics&tsp=1

[ColbertWatcher]

1. It should never have been allowed to get on the ballot. n/t

[rockymountaindem]

2. Is he related to Gov. Brown?

That may sound like a dumb question but Governor Brown was before my time.

[lligrd]

3. One In The Same. nt

[ruggerson]

4. He IS Governor Brown

[Howardx]

11. his aura smiles and never frowns

had to be done

[Sebastian Doyle]

32. LOL

Close your eyes, can't happen here
Rick Warren's fat ass on a white horse is here
Homophobes won't come back, you say
Vote for Prop H8 or you will pay

California Uber Alles!!
Uber Alles California!!

(with apologies to Governor Brown and Jello Biafra, but not to the dominionazi Warren)

[rockymountaindem]

27. Wow

Well, good for him.

[sandnsea]

5. Which Governor Brown

This is Governor Brown's, from the 60s, son, who was governor in the 80s, ran for President, became mayor of Oakland, and is now AG.

[CreekDog]

13. and the son of another Gov. Brown

:think:

[TahitiNut]

19. Governor Pat Brown begat Governor Jerry Brown who became Mayor Brown who became Attorney General.

Got it?
:silly:

[ruggerson]

23. Isn't that in Ephesians?

[TahitiNut]

24. (lol!) Well, it's appropriately Jesuitical ... as is Jerry.

:silly:

[AntiFascist]

6. K&R, great news !

I guess he won't be defending it then.

[babylonsister]

7. What took him so long? But GOOD! nt

[Cha]

14. Things change:) Maybe

all the activism and the blatant unfairness of it got to him.

[Ilsa]

8. This is great news. Stick it in Rick Warren's face, too. nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

9. For the sake of our gay brothers and sisters, I hope it's overturned nt

[MineralMan]

10. You go, Jerry!

As I said in another thread, having the CA Attorney General's office on this side helps to reinforce the argument that a referendum with a simple majority cannot alter the basic provisions of the Constitution. Since marriage is not mentioned in that document and since the Constitution provides for absolutely equal treatment of all citizens, it's a winning argument.

[robinlynne]

12. fantastic!!!

[EFerrari]

15. Right on, Jerry!

:woohoo:

[SeattleGirl]

16. Great news!!

Now, come on, Supremes! Overturn that ugly piece of crap!

[RandomKoolzip]

17. Hey! Nice one, Mr. Brown.

:thumbsup:

[Strathos]

18. Man, that gives me hope

It was wrong to begin with. It wasn't even approached correctly to be put on the ballot. It's basically illegal.

[ljm2002]

20. Jerry is a natural as AG...

...being trained by the Jesuits and all.

He's a smart guy. I suspect he will be able to make this argument stick.

Way to go Jerry!

[uppityperson]

21. Good. k&r eom

[TahitiNut]

22. I hope like hell the same 4-3 majority agrees with Brown, but I fear a 3-4 flip flop.

Good for Jerry, though.

[makinguphumans]

25. About time Jerry. THANK YOU****************

[makinguphumans]

26. *****SEND IT TO OBAMA'S CIVIL RIGHTS TRANSITION TEAM--WEB SITE HERE:

http://change.gov/page/s/civilrights

[Iggo]

29. I did...

...and I don't think they're going to be to pleased with me.

But fuck 'em anyway.

[makinguphumans]

37. FANTASTIC. They

will not be pleased with my comment either.

[mondo joe]

28. Thank you Jerry Brown. Good to know there's still a decent person in office somewhere. NT

[NYC_SKP]

30. Jerry Brown is a Great American....I wanted him as president, but I'm still happy

to have him as AG.

I watched him grow, I watched him change, I couldn't support him more.

By the way, here's his official portrait which hangs today in the state capital building in Sacramento.

Like the man, it stands out against all others.



:patriot:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

31. I wanted him too as Pres and saw him campaign at a now defunct GM plant in Westchester Co.

The NY MSM was biased against him and Clinton got the nod here.

[usregimechange]

33. It is a matter of time.

[yowzayowzayowza]

34. Fantastic!! n/t

[kentuck]

35. This will be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

And who will make the decision. Supreme Court nominees are very important, people.

[Tesha]

39. If the decision goes *AGAINST* Prop 8 (so restores rights)...

...it's not clear, at least to me, that the pro-H8 people have any
way to get this to the United States Supreme Court; they don't
gladly intervene in stuff that is purely intrastate, especially as
it relates to a state's constitution.

Tesha

[tjwash]

36. This should have been overturned immediately. I'm pissed it took so fucking long to get the the SC

What sucks about Cali politics...is that anything at all can get on the ballot for an up and down vote to the general public, provided you have enough signatures.

I could theoretically put a proposition on the ballot that bans interracial marriage in California, if I got 800000 verifiable signatures on a bunch of petitions. Prop 8 SHOULD now be rejected by the courts, in exactly the same way that it should be if they had been voting on a proposition to ban interracial marriage.

And for those that don't already know...This state is largely conservative and very Christian; woe to those who forget it. I've lived here all my life, and the suburbs teem with ignorant fucks who never miss a chance to vote on stuff like this. The pockets of sanity here, are so much smaller than you want to believe. The only place they really exist are in the imagination.

[dickthegrouch]

38. He had plenty of help .... from the Cal Supremes

I have consistently maintained that the wording in the decision from in Re Marriages was intended to prevent prop 8 from becoming law.

AG Brown has finally now read it and come to the same conclusion. According to his news conference he could not reconcile the constitution and Prop 8. Simple.

I am more hopeful that the court will uphold their previous explanation.

Once they have however, we need to make certain Ahhnuld gets behind it without any equivocation.

Dick