Bogged down in the courts

The Calif. gay marriage ban is before the 9th Circuit Court at the moment. One of the questions in the case is if those who pushed the ban have the ability to represent it in federal court if the state representatives (Attorney General) decline. The 9th Circuit said that question depends on state law, so asked the Calif. Supremes their opinion on the issue.

That may be prudent on the part of the 9th Circuit -- lessen the chance their ruling is overturned when it gets to the US Supremes (and it will) -- but it also means the timeline to a resolution is longer. The State Supremes need time to put it on their calendar, accept briefs, hear arguments, and write an opinion. The 9th Circuit then needs time to include that ruling in their own opinion. The case is currently before 3 judges of the 9th Circuit and the losing side can request that a much larger group of judges hears the case. That will take more time. Then the US Supremes…

Meaning it is unlikely all this will be resolved by the 2012 elections. It is time to plan how to gather enough signatures to get the repeal on the ballot and to figure out how to counteract the lies our opposition will spew (not all that hard -- they use the same lies every time). We were close last time. A few more bigots have died and a few more gay friendly youth can vote. And a few more have had their minds changed and are ready to vote with us.