California Attorney General Kamala Harris Asks Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals To Allow For Resumption Of Same Sex Marriages While Court Considers Proposition 8 Appeal; Says Announcement By Obama Administration That It Will No Longer Defend Defense Of Marriage Act “Dooms” Same Sex Marriage Ban Prospects

California State Attorney General Kamala Harris asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco Tuesday to allow for the resumption of same sex weddings in the state while court continues a review of Proposition 8, the voter initiative that amended the constitution to effectively eliminate the rights of gays and lesbians to legally wed. The case, on appeal, is on hold while the state Supreme Court determines whether the measure’s sponsors can appeal a federal judge’s decision declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Harris told the Ninth Circuit Court that the announcement by the Obama Administration last week that it is ordering the Justice Department to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act diminishes the legal prospects for Proposition 8. Even if sponsors have legal standing, Harris said,"the likelihood that the appeal will succeed on the merits has been substantially diminished" by the Obama administration's declaration last week that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. The 1996 law prohibits the federal government from granting marital privileges, including joint tax filing, Social Security payments and immigration sponsorship, to same sex couples married under state law. Attorney General Eric Holder told federal courts considering challenges to the law that the administration now considers any government discrimination based on sexual orientation to be constitutionally suspect. "While it lacks the force of law, Attorney General Holder's reasoned analysis is entitled to consideration," Harris told the appeals court. Each day Proposition 8 remains in effect, she said, "justice has been denied." The November 2008 initiative overturned a state Supreme Court ruling six months earlier that had allowed gays and lesbians to marry. Chief United States District Judge Vaughn Walker struck down Proposition 8 in August 2010, but the Ninth Circuit suspended his ruling while it is on appeal, a process that could take another year or more. Because then-Attorney General Jerry Brown and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declined to appeal Walker's ruling, the case can proceed only if the appeals court decides that Propostion 8's campaign committee or the elected clerk in conservative Imperial County can appeal. The court asked the state Supreme Court to consider the question.