Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel, Associated Press via San Jose Mercury News
SAN FRANCISCO -- California's highest court will release on Thursday an eagerly-anticipated decision on whether the state's constitution requires marriage equality.
The justices today posted a notation on the court's Web site that the ruling in the civil rights challenge to the same-sex marriage ban will be posted at 10 a.m. Thursday.
Justices heard oral arguments in a series of cases brought by gay and lesbian couples, the city of San Francisco and two gay rights advocacy groups in early March. They had until early June to rule on the issue.
The long-awaited decision is a crucial test of the simmering public, social and legal debate over gay marriage, triggered in 2004 when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed thousands of gay and lesbian couples to wed before the courts put a halt to the marriage licenses.
San Francisco city officials and civil rights groups then challenged a state family code law that restricts marriage to a man and a woman, as well as a 2000 voter-approved ballot initiative that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A San Francisco trial judge declared the ban unconstitutional, but a divided state appeals court in 2006 upheld the law, concluding that it is up to the voters or Legislature to legalize same-sex marriage, not judges.
The state Supreme Court is reviewing that ruling.
Fifteen same-gender couples, Equality California, and Our Family Coalition are represented in the marriage case by lead counsel from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, along with Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, Heller Ehrman LLP and the Law Office of David C. Codell.
The court has been asked to decide whether the state's one man-one woman marriage laws violate the civil rights of same-sex couples.
If it rules in favor of the plaintiffs, California could become the second state after Massachusetts where gays and lesbians can legally wed.
A ruling in favor of gay marriage could stoke a political firestorm in the fall if a proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw gay marriage in California makes it onto the ballot. A decision on whether the initiative qualifies for the ballot is expected in June.
Full article: California high court set to rule on gay marriage | Santa Cruz Sentinel
California high court set to rule on gay marriage | - San Jose Mercury News