CA Voters - What you can do to repeal Prop 8 in 2010

[essentialsaltes]

Sign the Petition to get it on the ballot. Even if all you can do is to print out the PDF, sign it yourself, and mail it to their offices, that's a stamp well spent.

Comments

Re: 2012

[shad-0.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's worse than that. The U.S. Supreme Court did not simply decline to review Baker v. Nelson -- the appeal was actually before the Court, on mandatory review, and the Court had no choice but to consider it on the merits. In a one-sentence order, without any discussion or analysis, the Court summarily dismissed the appeal "for want of a substantial federal question." (Baker v. Nelson, 409 U.S. 810, 92 S.Ct. 37, 34 L.Ed.2d 65 (1972).)

A case that SCOTUS dismisses for lack of a substantial federal question is considered binding precedent (albeit only on the specific issues directly presented in the appellant's statement of jurisdiction; it certainly does not suggest that the U.S. Supreme Court actually adopted any of the reasoning of the Minnesota Supreme Court). Thus, Baker is technically a controlling precedent, currently binding on every court in this country except for SCOTUS itself, holding that a denial of same-sex marriage is not an improper violation of due process, not improper discrimination in violation of the equal-protection clause, and not a violation of the constitutional right to privacy.

Of course Baker is not binding on SCOTUS, and the principle of stare decisis does not apply nearly as strongly to summary dismissals, so in the event the Court ends up hearing and rejecting a challenge to Proposition 8 I do not envision the majority citing Baker as support for its decision.