An important decision in California’s Prop 8 same-sex marriage case will be issued by the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals tomorrow, according to several news reports and AFER, the American Foundation of Equal Rights, which is “the sole organizational sponsor of the groundbreaking federal court case to overturn California’s Proposition 8.”
Along the way, several other important court decisions have been made, but this may be the final Prop 8 decision expected from the three-judge Ninth Circuit panel. It is conceivably possible that the full Ninth Circuit Court might accept the case on appeal, but more likely, and regardless of what tomorrow’s decision is, it is widely expected the losing side will appeal to the Supreme Court.
It is possible, given the timing, that the Supreme Court might accept, complete the case, and rule by June of next year.
In November, the California Supreme Court issued an important decision, granting standing to the Yes On 8 organization that opposes same-sex marriage equality, after both California Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, along with then-Attorney General Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris, California’s new Attorney General, refused to defend Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage, in court.
That decision, though not binding on the Ninth Circuit, is expected to be upheld.
NBC News notes:
The three-judge panel heard arguments on whether the decision to strike down Prop 8 should be overturned because the justice overseeing the initial ruling failed to recuse himself or disclose he was in a gay relationship.
A summary of the opinion regarding the case Perry v. Brown will be prepared by court staff and will be posted along with the opinion sometime after 10 a.m. Tuesday.
This decision will include rulings affirming or denying Judge Ware’s and Judge Walker’s findings that Prop 8 is unconstitutional, and will also address the (ludicrous) claim the Judge Walker’s ruling should have been set aside because he did not publicly disclose he was gay, and in a same-sex relationship.
Opponents of same-sex marriage hurt their case when they argued that Walker stood to benefit from his ruling, thus noting that marriage is an important right.
Chris Geidner at MetroWeekly summarizes:
The long anticipated ruling is expected to address three issues: (1) whether former U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker should have recused himself from hearing the case because he is gay and had a long-time partner with whom he was not married; (2) whether the proponents of Proposition 8 have the right to appeal Walker’s decision striking down Proposition 8 as unconstitutional when none of the state defendants chose to do so; and (3) whether, if Walker did not need to recuse himself and the proponents do have the right to appeal, Walker was correct that Proposition 8 violates Californians’ due process and equal protection rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.
 Image: Prop 8 rally in Montery, California, May 26, 2009, by CarbonNYC.