American Foundation for Equal Rights

Gay Marriage Ban Backers Seek Supreme Court Review

Lisa Leff of the Associated Press reports on today’s petition for writ of certiorari filed by marriage equality opponents.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Backers of California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to overrule a federal appeals court that struck down the measure as unconstitutional.

Lawyers for the coalition of religious conservative groups that sponsored the ban, known as Proposition 8, petitioned the Supreme Court to review the lower court’s finding that the 2008 amendment to the state constitution violated the civil rights of gay and lesbian Californians.

The move, which had been expected since a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its 2-1 decision earlier this year, means the bitter, 4-year-old court fight over the ban could soon be resolved.

If the high court declines to take the case, it would clear the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California. Gay couples could get married in the state for several months before Proposition 8 passed, a right the measure specifically was designed to take away. Same-sex couples still have all the rights and benefits of marriages if they register as domestic partners.

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