Source: San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco -- After fighting same-sex marriage for four years, the state on Thursday urged the California Supreme Court to reject petitions that would delay enforcement of the court's landmark ruling permitting gays to wed.
"This historic litigation is now concluded," wrote Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Christopher E. Krueger in a in a 33-page brief filed with the state's high court. "It is time for these proceedings to end."
Attorney General Jerry Brown's office filed the arguments in response to a request last week from gay marriage opponents for the Supreme Court to stay its ruling, which declared California's ban on same-sex weddings unconstitutional.
Under the current schedule, county clerks' offices across the state will start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on June 17. But conservative religious and legal organizations have asked the court to reconsider the ruling and suspend its effect until the Nov. 3 election, when a state constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriages is likely to be on the ballot.
"The people of California have a constitutional right to vote on marriage, and we trust the high court will respect the democratic process," said attorney Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund, which filed the request for a stay Wednesday on behalf of the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund, sponsor of a previous ballot measure banning same-sex marriage.
The groups maintain the Supreme Court should postpone the ruling to avoid legal chaos around the state as gay couples capitalize on their newfound right to marry and obtain marriage licenses in the coming months. The Supreme Court's ruling becomes final in mid-June, although gay marriages could still be delayed by the continued legal wrangling over the stay request.
Brown's position is significant because the state had defended the gay marriage ban during the four-year legal battle, arguing that California's strong domestic partners laws provided equal benefits to same-sex couples. The Supreme Court rejected that argument.
In today's brief, Brown said he plans to enforce the court's May 15 ruling "with no less vigor" than he previously sought to defend state laws that limited marriage to opposite-sex couples.
Brown's office joined his former courtroom adversaries, lawyers for 23 same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco, in asking the court to deny the stay and let the ruling take effect. Krueger, the state's lawyer, said the possibility of a reversal by the voters does not justify withholding rights from those who are legally entitled to them.
"Such an action would be tantamount to putting the (ballot) initiative into temporary effect more than five months before it is even submitted to the electorate," he wrote. "The court would ... set a dangerous and highly questionable precedent were it to manipulate its own processes to accommodate a political interest."
10 other states filed a brief in support of a request by equality opponents to delay the effective date of the court ruling.
The offices of attorneys general of Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah argued that California should ignore its civil rights protections and delay its implementation of marriage equality. They protested that their states, which discriminate against gay couples, would be inundated by litigation seeking to have them recognize same-sex nuptials in California.
Full article: Attorney General Jerry Brown urges court to finalize gay marriage ruling | - San Jose Mercury News
State lawyers urge California Supreme Court not to delay same-sex ... | Los Angeles Times
Foes, in court, seek to delay gay marriages | San Francisco Chronicle