Coalition Of Organizations Challenging Legality Of Prop 8
by: Autumn Sandeen
Wed Nov 05, 2008 at 16:45:00 PM EST
http://pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=0C5B4F7338E7A9EC802C1F6A21029465?diaryId=8022 (http://pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=0C5B4F7338E7A9EC802C1F6A21029465?diaryId=8022)
The National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, The American Civil Liberties Union, and Equality California have issued a media releaseLegal Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Proposition 8, Should it Pass indicating the organizations are jointly challenging the legality of Proposition 8. Their position is that the initiative process cannot be used to undermine the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone:
The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a writ petition before the California Supreme Court today urging the court to invalidate Proposition 8 if it passes. The petition charges that Proposition 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group - lesbian and gay Californians. Proposition 8 also improperly attempts to prevent the courts from exercising their essential constitutional role of protecting the equal protection rights of minorities. According to the California Constitution, such radical changes to the organizing principles of state government cannot be made by simple majority vote through the initiative process, but instead must, at a minimum, go through the state legislature first.