Calif. Vote on Same-Sex Marriage Ban Will Proceed

Californians will cast their votes this fall on whether to allow same-sex marriages to continue, after the state's Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an effort to have the ballot initiative removed.

Proposition 8 (called the "California Marriage Protection Act"), which would amend a relevant portion of the California constitution to read "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California," will now likely go before state voters in November, after the California Supreme Court voted unanimously to turn away a drive to have the proposition removed. According to the Los Angeles Times, the state's high court rejected an argument that Prop 8 "was an illegal constitutional revision and that voters had been misled when they signed petitions to put it on the ballot," clearing the way for "what some observers expect to be a close vote on the marriage measure." In May, the court held that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, opening the door to the November ballot measure.

• Marriage Case Information (California Courts)
• L.A. Times: Bid to Ban Gay Marriage Will Stay on Ballot
• Reuters: California Gay Marriage Ban Vote to Proceed
• California's Same-Sex Marriage Ban Rejected by State's Supreme Court (FindLaw's Common Law Blog 5/15/08)
• Same-Sex Marriage and the Law (FindLaw)