Judge's Ruling Ready in California Prop 8 Case

[joeybee12]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38548770/ns/us_news/

SAN FRANCISCO — The first word on whether California's same-sex marriage ban passes scrutiny under the U.S. Constitution is scheduled to come down Wednesday when a federal judge issues his ruling in a landmark case.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has reached a decision on whether to uphold or overturn the voter-approved ban known as Proposition 8 and plans to publish his opinion in the afternoon, court spokeswoman Lynn Fuller said.

His verdict comes in response to a lawsuit brought by two same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco seeking to invalidate the law as an unlawful infringement on the civil rights of gay men and lesbians.

Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriages in California five months after the state Supreme Court legalized them, passed with 52 percent of the vote in November 2008 following the most expensive campaign on a social issue in U.S. history.

Attorneys on both sides have said an appeal was certain if Walker did not rule in their favor. The case would go first to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then the Supreme Court if the high court justices agree to review it.

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[LWolf]

2. Looking forward to hearing more this afternoon. nt

[Jack Rabbit]

3. We will be watching this one today

. . .

[joeybee12]

4. Kicking for visibility...n/t

[Starry Messenger]

5. crossing fingers.

[Fearless]

6. We'll win this round, when the SJC picks it up, all hell will break loose.

If it counts for anything, we can get a whole lot more people in Washington than the Teabaggers can. And we're talking civil rights ruling of the century here, so we better be on the ball.

[Fleshdancer]

7. I wish he would publish his opinion sooner. Now would be good.

Waiting for something this important drives me up the wall.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. I am keeping my fingers crossed here in SF.

Interestingly, there was an article in the SF paper today that said the wording of Prop. 8 was such that many people who were actually in favor of gay marriage ended up voting against it by accident. :( When I read the Prop. before the election I knew that was going to happen and knew it had been planned that way. :puke: