Proposition 8:
State constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Voted in in 2008 by California voters.
The Case:
After being denied marriage licenses, two gay couples were represented by Ted Olson and David Boies who filed the Perry case in the U.S. District Court of Northern California in May 2009.
In June, Judge Vaghn R. Walker granted a motion to intervene, and in July, he called for a presentation of evidence. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and the NCLR (Nacional Center for lesbian Rights) intervened to defend the LGBT community's rights, but lawers for the city and county of San Fransisco quickly followed suit opposing the LGBT groups' motion to participate and in August of 2009, Judge Walker denied the groups' intervention.
The trial began in January 2010, and in February, LGBT Groups submitted briefs to the court urging it to strike down Prop 8. It was struck down in August, but opposition rapidly appealed the decision. A hearing was held in a Ninth Circuit of Appeals in December, and in January, the panel of judges asked the State Supreme Court to clarify whether California law grants the proponents of ballot initiatives a particularized interest in the validity of a measure they put on the ballot that might entitle them to appeal a ruling that the measure is unconstitutional if state officials do not appeal. In February 2011, California's Supreme Court agrees to clarify. Several LGBT legal groups filed court briefs with the Ninth Circuit Court requesting that the court legalized same sex marriage while the case is on appeal, but the court declines. In April 2011, proponents of Proposition 8 filed a motion to vacate Judge Walker's ruling due to the homosexual relationship he has had for the past decade, but the District Court denied the motion in June 2011. In September, the state Supreme Court heard the oral argument on whether or not proponents have an interest in defending the initiatives they propose, and in November 2011, the court ruled that Prop 8 proponents do in fact have an interest in the initiative's defense. The Ninth Circuit upheld Judge Walker's previous ruling declaring proposition 8 unconstitutional.
In December 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the Perry case. They heard the oral argument in March 2013, and in June, the court held that proponents who intervened did not have standing to appeal the lower courts' ruling.
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