California Governor Jerry Brown and
Attorney General Kamala Harris have urged the California Supreme
Court to deny a request to reinstate Proposition 8, California's now
ended gay marriage ban.
“After years of litigation, there is
now a final determination that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional,”
a
brief filed with the high court by lawyers for Brown and Harris
reads.
“To revive Proposition 8, as
petitioners have asked, by ordering county officials to enforce it
would command the violation of gay and lesbian Californians' federal
constitutional rights.”
Protect Marriage, the group that
sponsored the 2008 constitutional amendment which defined marriage as
a heterosexual union, on Friday asked the state's highest court to
reinstate the ban, arguing that Brown did not have the authority to
end enforcement of Proposition 8.
Proposition 8 tumbled after the Supreme
Court ruled that interveners lacked standing to defend the law,
leaving in place a 2010 circuit court ruling declaring it
unconstitutional.
Within days after the Supreme Court
ruled, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted its stay in the
ruling, allowing same-sex marriages to resume in California.
However, Protect Marriage argues that a
provision in the California Constitution prohibits state officials
from refusing to enforce a law unless it has been deemed
unconstitutional by an appellate court.
Protect Marriage also argues that the
2010 ruling only applies to the two counties where plaintiffs live,
not the entire state.
On June 28, Brown ordered clerks in all
58 counties to resume issuing marriage license to gay couples.
(Related: Dennis
Herrera calls attempt to reinstate Prop 8 “desperate.”)