News
US Appeals Court To Rule On Prop 8
A US appeals court is set to decide today whether California’s gay marriage ban – known as Proposition 8 – is constitutional or not.
A three-judge panel at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals will announce today whether California's ban on same-sex marriage violates the civil rights of gays and lesbians.
In November 2008, a ruling to ban same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, passed with a 52 percent voter majority.
Following the ban, Justice Vaughn Walker of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California overturned Prop 8, saying, "Because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional."
This ruling was appealed by conservative Prop 8 supporters.
The Washington Post reports that the three-judge panel heard arguments on the ban's civil rights implications more than a year ago but delayed a decision while it sought guidance from the California Supreme Court on whether Proposition 8's sponsors had legal authority to challenge Judge Walker's original ruling after the governor and state attorney general decided not to appeal it.
Currently, only six states - New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Iowa - allow gay marriage, as does Washington, D.C.