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From the Los Angeles Times
Q&A: California Supreme Court to issue Prop. 8 decision today
Rulings are expected on the legality of the measure barring same-sex marriage and the status of those who married before it was approved by voters.
By Rong-Gong Lin II and Maura Dolan

May 26, 2009

Reporting from San Francisco and Los Angeles — What is being decided by the California Supreme Court?

The state's top court will rule on whether to uphold or strike down Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The justices will also decide whether the state will continue to recognize the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages carried out in 2008.

How did we get to this point?

After San Francisco officials began allowing same-sex couples to wed there in 2004, the courts intervened, invalidating the marriages on grounds that local officials had overstepped their authority.

But in May 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that the state Constitution protects a fundamental "right to marry" that extends to same-sex couples.

That made California the second state in the union, after Massachusetts, to permit same-sex marriage.

About 18,000 gay and lesbian couples married between June and November, when voters approved Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to recognize marriage as only between a man and woman.

Opponents of Proposition 8 appealed to the California Supreme Court to overturn the ballot measure. They contend that the proposition changed the tenets of the state Constitution and therefore amounted to a revision, which can only be placed on the ballot by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature; Proposition 8 reached the ballot after a signature drive.

What do legal experts expect the court to do?

Based on comments the justices made at a hearing earlier this year, most legal experts expect the court to uphold Proposition 8 but continue to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples wed before the November election.

If the court upholds Proposition 8, what happens next?

State officials would continue to prohibit issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Supporters of same-sex marriage, however, are expected to go back to the ballot box as early as 2010 with a constitutional amendment recognizing same-sex marriage.

If Proposition 8 is upheld, would that affect the state's domestic partnership law, which gives same-sex couples the legal rights of marriage?

No. State law surrounding domestic partnerships is separate from the issue of allowing same-sex couples to marry. There is no dispute about the legality of domestic partnerships.

After the California Supreme Court ruled in May 2008 that same-sex couples could marry, the state also began to recognize same-sex couples married out of state.

If Proposition 8 is upheld, would California continue to recognize those couples as married?

That's a question the California Supreme Court will decide.

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