Ninth U.S.Circuit Of Appeals Denies Plaintiffs Motion To Allow Same Sex Marriage To Continue In California While Proposition 8 Constitutional Validity Considered

A federal appeals court refused Wednesday to allow same sex marriages resume in California while it considers the constitutional validity of a 2008 ballot measure that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman, reports The San Francisco Chronicle. Gay and lesbian couples and the city of San Francisco had asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February to lift its suspension of a federal judge's August 2010 ruling that declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. The couples and the city, plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, cited the appeals court's decision to put the case on hold while the California Supreme Court decides whether sponsors of the initiative have standing under state law to appeal the judge's ruling. The state court is scheduled to hear arguments on that issue in September. It may take another three months to rule before returning the case to the federal court. In court papers, Theodore Olson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, wrote that every day that gays and lesbians are denied the right to marry while the case is on hold "is a day that never can be returned to them.”In a one-sentence order today, the three judges on the federal court panel said they had reviewed the arguments and the applicable legal standards, and "we deny plaintiffs' motion at this time."Proposition 8 overturned a May 2008 ruling by the state Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage in California. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker declared the ballot measure unconstitutional after a 2010 trial, saying it discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation and gender. The appeals court put his ruling on hold while it reviewed an appeal by Proposition 8's sponsors, a conservative quasi-religious coalition called Protect Marriage.