SR 7 will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee next Tuesday, February 17.

AR 5 will also be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee next Tuesday, February 17.


The California Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for March 5 to determine if Prop 8 was a validly enacted amendment to the constitution or if it somehow violates the law. Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose oath of office requires him to defend the People's right to amend the state's  constitution, has instead decided to oppose Prop 8 advancing a novel legal theory that even though Prop 8 was a validly enacted amendment to the constitution, it should nevertheless be thrown out because it supposedly conflicts with the "inalienable" right to liberty of same-sex couples. Not only that, but over forty outside groups (civil rights activists, legal groups, labor unions, bar associations, etc.), represented by literally hundreds of lawyers, also filed legal briefs urging the Supreme Court to overturn the people's vote for Proposition 8.


The ProtectMarriage.com committee is now the only organization battling as a party in the lawsuit to uphold Prop 8. In essence, the entire burden of defending Prop 8 and the principle of traditional marriage has fallen on the  ProtectMarriage.com's shoulders, while opponents have the benefit of taxpayer-paid legal counsel and free access to some of the biggest law firms in the state.


Kenneth W. Starr, former Solicitor General of the United States and a former Judge on the United States Court of Appeals, is the lead attorney  representing ProtectMarriage.com in the Supreme Court and  will argue the case at the upcoming hearing on behalf of ProtectMarrige.com - Yes on 8 and the official proponents of Prop 8.

To fund the effort, the ProtectMarriage.com committee is urging supporters to contribute to the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund. According to ProtectMarriage.com. "because this fund is not a political committee, all contributions are confidential and will not be publicly disclosed."

The ProtectMarriage.com's position is  "..that the Attorney General's position essentially asks the Court to declare a constitutional revolution. In fact, the Attorney General is arguing that the people are powerless to amend their constitution to overturn judicial interpretations of constitutional principles"


ProtectMarriage.com, continues to litigate to protect the privacy of donors to the just concluded campaign.

 "Unfortunately, too many of our supporters have been subjected to harassing calls, emails and other retaliation for supporting Proposition 8. There is clearly an organized effort underway to contact our donors and attempt to silence them from supporting our efforts. Some of our opponents, for example, have put many of our donors' information on the Internet using Google mapping technology, displaying the location of contributors of as little as $100.  For this reason, we are mounting litigation in the federal courts to protect our donors from further disclosure. We expect this litigation to take some time, and likely will not be successful until it is in the federal courts of appeal." 

ProtectMarriage.com also asks that 

"..if you have personally suffered any type of harassment or retaliation in the past few weeks (since January 31) as a result of your contribution to our campaign, please contact us at info@protectmarriage.com. The more that we can document incidents of retaliation, particularly incidents stemming from the outrageous use of Google Maps by our opponents or recent harassment since our campaign reports were filed on January 31, the stronger our case will be."

And as if challenging the validity of Prop 8 in court and harassing hundreds of prop 8 supporters were not enough, the opponents of Prop 8 are asking the Legislature to pass Senate Resolution 7 (Leno) and Assembly Resolution 5 (Ammiano) declaring that Prop 8 is invalid. These resolutions have no legal effect, but are intended to send a message to the Supreme Court that a majority of legislators believe Prop 8 should be tossed out:

SR 7 will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee next Tuesday, February 17.

To contact members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to express your position to SR 7: Senator Ellen Corbett (D-Alameda) (Chair), Senator Tom Harman (R-Orange County) (Vice-Chair) Senator Dean Florez, (D-Central Valley), Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco - he is the author of SR 7) and Senator Mimi Walters (R-Orange County), click here 
NOTE:  Proposition 8 passed overwhelmingly in Orange County and the Central Valley and failed in Alameda and San Francisco.

AR 5 will also be heard in the Assembly Judiciary Committee next Tuesday, February 17.

To contact members of the Assembly Judiciary Committee to express your position to AR 5:  Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) (Chair), Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Orange County) (Vice Chair), Assembly Member Julia Brownley (D-Los Angeles), Assemblywoman Noreen Evans (D-Napa),  Assemblyman Dave Jones (D-Sacramento),  Assemblyman Steve Knight (R-Antelope Valley), Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Los Angeles),  Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance),  Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Monterey), and Assemblyman Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber/Tehama County), click here.
NOTE:  Proposition 8 passed in Los Angeles County, Orange County, Sacramento County and Tehama County, and failed in Monterey County and Napa County.