California bar associations join call to invalidate Prop 8

Forty bar associations and legal groups across the country - including the San Francisco and Los Angeles County Bar Associations - have called on the California Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8, the voter approved measure that bans same-sex marriage in the state. The groups have filed a friend of the court brief saying the proposition violates the constitutional principles of equal protection and fundamental rights. "Proposition 8 would shatter existing principles of equal protection and fundamental rights, as well as the judicial branch's role as final arbiter of these constitutional guarantees," said Russell S. Roeca, President of the Bar Association of San Francisco in a statement. "It constitutes a revision of the Constitution. As such, it may not be enacted by a simple majority of the voters." Los Angeles County Bar Association President Danette Meyers said that the question of whether a protected class may be barred from enjoying a fundamental right based on a bare majority vote is a matter of statewide importance. "The implications of the question are wide-reaching; if the majority can relegate disfavored minorities to second class citizenship via the initiative process, no fundamental rights are safe," said Meyers. The brief to the high court joins those of religious leaders and labor unions in making the argument that that Prop 8 is invalid because it is not a "constitutional amendment," but a "constitutional revision." A revision requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to get on the ballot, while an amendment can go on the ballot as Prop 8 did through the collecting of signatures. A coalition of more than 50 California labor organizations, including United Healthcare Workers and the California Labor Federation also filed its brief on Friday. In total, the labor organizations represent more than two million working men and women in California. The California Council of Churches and other religious leaders and faith organizations representing millions of members filed their friend of the court brief earlier this week. Last May, the state Supreme Court upheld the appeal court ruling and thousands of same-sex couples began marrying. An umbrella group of socially conservative organizations and churches formed the Yes on 8 campaign and immediately began collecting signatures for the voter initiative. The group wants the court to uphold the vote and to annul the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place before November. The court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case later this year.