Recent from talks
Strauss v. Horton
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Strauss v. Horton
Strauss v. Horton, 46 Cal. 4th 364, 93 Cal. Rptr. 3d 591, 207 P.3d 48 (2009), was a decision of the Supreme Court of California, the state's highest court. It resulted from lawsuits that challenged the voters' adoption of Proposition 8 on November 4, 2008, which amended the Constitution of California to outlaw same-sex marriage. Several gay couples and governmental entities filed the lawsuits in California state trial courts. The Supreme Court of California agreed to hear appeals in three of the cases and consolidated them so they would be considered and decided. The supreme court heard oral argument in the cases in San Francisco on March 5, 2009. Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar stated that the cases will set precedent in California because "no previous case had presented the question of whether [a ballot] initiative could be used to take away fundamental rights".
The court announced its decision on May 26, 2009. The decision held that Proposition 8 was valid as adopted by the voters, but that marriages performed before Proposition 8 went into effect would remain valid. On June 26, 2013, Strauss v. Horton was mooted by Hollingsworth v. Perry.
On November 13, 2008, the California Supreme Court asked state Attorney General Jerry Brown to reply by November 17, 2008, to a number of lawsuits challenging the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. The filing the court requested from the Attorney General was not to address the ballot measure's validity, but to focus on whether the justices should accept the suits for review and whether Proposition 8 should be suspended while they decide the case, said Christopher Krueger, a senior assistant attorney general.
On November 17, 2008, the Attorney General urged the court to hear these cases in order to decide the important legal issues presented, but also argued that the court should not suspend Proposition 8.
On November 19, 2008, the California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits (Strauss et al. v. Horton, Tyler et al. v. State of California et al., and City and County of San Francisco et al. v. Horton et al.) challenging Proposition 8 and said that it would hear the cases together, but denied the requests to stay its enforcement. Three additional lawsuits (Asian Pacific American Legal Center et al. v. Horton et al., Equal Rights Advocates and California Women's Law Center v. Horton et al., and California Council of Churches et al. v. Horton et al.) on the matter were denied hearing, but those petitioners were invited by the court to file amicus briefs in the cases which were accepted.
The lawsuits claimed that revoking the right of same-sex couples to marry is a constitutional revision rather than an amendment. In California, both constitutional amendments and revisions require that a majority of voters approve the ballot initiative. However, a revision, defined as a "substantial alteration of the entire constitution rather than to a less extensive change in one or more of its provisions," also requires the prior approval of 2/3 of each house of the California State Legislature.
Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine, stated, "the California Supreme Court has never articulated criteria for what makes something an amendment versus a revision. So I don't think you can predict anything because there is so little law."
Claims made on similar grounds with respect to other constitutional changes have in some cases taken years to be adjudicated, and almost all have failed. Kenji Yoshino, an openly gay man who serves as the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law, cast doubt on the "revision" argument, stating that "for both precedential and political reasons, I think this case is a loser."
Hub AI
Strauss v. Horton AI simulator
(@Strauss v. Horton_simulator)
Strauss v. Horton
Strauss v. Horton, 46 Cal. 4th 364, 93 Cal. Rptr. 3d 591, 207 P.3d 48 (2009), was a decision of the Supreme Court of California, the state's highest court. It resulted from lawsuits that challenged the voters' adoption of Proposition 8 on November 4, 2008, which amended the Constitution of California to outlaw same-sex marriage. Several gay couples and governmental entities filed the lawsuits in California state trial courts. The Supreme Court of California agreed to hear appeals in three of the cases and consolidated them so they would be considered and decided. The supreme court heard oral argument in the cases in San Francisco on March 5, 2009. Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar stated that the cases will set precedent in California because "no previous case had presented the question of whether [a ballot] initiative could be used to take away fundamental rights".
The court announced its decision on May 26, 2009. The decision held that Proposition 8 was valid as adopted by the voters, but that marriages performed before Proposition 8 went into effect would remain valid. On June 26, 2013, Strauss v. Horton was mooted by Hollingsworth v. Perry.
On November 13, 2008, the California Supreme Court asked state Attorney General Jerry Brown to reply by November 17, 2008, to a number of lawsuits challenging the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. The filing the court requested from the Attorney General was not to address the ballot measure's validity, but to focus on whether the justices should accept the suits for review and whether Proposition 8 should be suspended while they decide the case, said Christopher Krueger, a senior assistant attorney general.
On November 17, 2008, the Attorney General urged the court to hear these cases in order to decide the important legal issues presented, but also argued that the court should not suspend Proposition 8.
On November 19, 2008, the California Supreme Court accepted three lawsuits (Strauss et al. v. Horton, Tyler et al. v. State of California et al., and City and County of San Francisco et al. v. Horton et al.) challenging Proposition 8 and said that it would hear the cases together, but denied the requests to stay its enforcement. Three additional lawsuits (Asian Pacific American Legal Center et al. v. Horton et al., Equal Rights Advocates and California Women's Law Center v. Horton et al., and California Council of Churches et al. v. Horton et al.) on the matter were denied hearing, but those petitioners were invited by the court to file amicus briefs in the cases which were accepted.
The lawsuits claimed that revoking the right of same-sex couples to marry is a constitutional revision rather than an amendment. In California, both constitutional amendments and revisions require that a majority of voters approve the ballot initiative. However, a revision, defined as a "substantial alteration of the entire constitution rather than to a less extensive change in one or more of its provisions," also requires the prior approval of 2/3 of each house of the California State Legislature.
Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine, stated, "the California Supreme Court has never articulated criteria for what makes something an amendment versus a revision. So I don't think you can predict anything because there is so little law."
Claims made on similar grounds with respect to other constitutional changes have in some cases taken years to be adjudicated, and almost all have failed. Kenji Yoshino, an openly gay man who serves as the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law, cast doubt on the "revision" argument, stating that "for both precedential and political reasons, I think this case is a loser."