Obviously IANAL, but California's legislature twice passed gay marriage in California.
The state Supreme Court affirmed that California's state Constitution provides equal rights to same-sex couples.
Therefore Prop 8 is not simply an amendment, but a qualitative undoing of a fundamental aspect of the state Constitution, a reversal of the legislature AND an overturning of a state Supreme Court decision.
All with a squeaker of a ballot win.
This is "tyranny of the majority" if I've ever seen it.
What the HELL good is a Constitution for protecting its minorities if it can be thwarted with the slimmest of popular majorities?
What the hell good is a state Supreme Court decision if, though two-thirds of the state legislature would be needed to overturn it, the same decision can be trashed by a simple 50+1 at the ballot?
Couldn't California's legislature hit back by requiring two-thirds of the electorate if an initiative would both change the state Constitution AND overturn a state Supreme Court decision?
I just can't deal with the passage of Prop 8, as you can see.
But really, don't the already-married same-sex couples in California have a serious court case, because otherwise they're in legal purgatory?
Can the state Supreme Court strike down the results of the referendum because they effectively overturn the Supreme Court, the constitution AND the state legislature without two-thirds?
Any state constitutional scholars or CA lawyers out there who can talk me down?