When it was announced last week that more than 90 civil rights organizations had joined together to submit to the California Supreme Court 30 amicus briefs supporting marriage equality for the state’s same-sex couples, most gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people outside The Golden State probably didn’t give it much thought.
According to Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel in the Los Angeles office of Lambda Legal, however, LGBT folk around the country should have celebrated the announcement right alongside their Californian counterparts. “It’s a big deal,” she says. “It’s an indicator of some very important shifts in public support and public thought on this issue.”
Although California-based individuals, groups and organizations—LGBT and otherwise—certainly played a key role in preparing the all-important briefs, many national groups and organizations also played a part. Among them: The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the Equal Justice Society, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the National Black Justice Coalition and the Southern Poverty Law Center. (For a complete list of the organizations that filed amicus briefs supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry, go to www.lambdalegal.org.)
The 30 briefs submitted to the California Supreme Court “represent what has been a growing consensus across all parts of this state and nation that it’s time to end this discrimination.”
What are the next steps for the eager plaintiffs—15 same-sex couples, along with Equality California and Our Family Coalition—in this case, not to mention the rest of us? According to Pizer, the California Supreme Court justices and their staffs will digest the material now before them and eventually will set a date for oral argument. “That could happen before the end of this calendar year,” she says, though the more likely scenario is that it will happen in 2008.
“Once they have the argument, rules dictate that the court should issue a ruling within 90 days,” Pizer explains. “So once we know what the argument date is—which will be very exciting in its own right—we can anticipate a ruling within three months.
“We can’t guess how particular justices will analyze these issues,” she adds, “but we hope and believe they will find the information relevant. The California Supreme Court knows the rest of the country has looked to their state as a leader in a range of different issues. We're hoping they continue that trend with this case.”
According to Jennifer Pizer, senior counsel in the Los Angeles office of Lambda Legal, however, LGBT folk around the country should have celebrated the announcement right alongside their Californian counterparts. “It’s a big deal,” she says. “It’s an indicator of some very important shifts in public support and public thought on this issue.”
Although California-based individuals, groups and organizations—LGBT and otherwise—certainly played a key role in preparing the all-important briefs, many national groups and organizations also played a part. Among them: The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the Equal Justice Society, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the National Black Justice Coalition and the Southern Poverty Law Center. (For a complete list of the organizations that filed amicus briefs supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry, go to www.lambdalegal.org.)
The 30 briefs submitted to the California Supreme Court “represent what has been a growing consensus across all parts of this state and nation that it’s time to end this discrimination.”
What are the next steps for the eager plaintiffs—15 same-sex couples, along with Equality California and Our Family Coalition—in this case, not to mention the rest of us? According to Pizer, the California Supreme Court justices and their staffs will digest the material now before them and eventually will set a date for oral argument. “That could happen before the end of this calendar year,” she says, though the more likely scenario is that it will happen in 2008.
“Once they have the argument, rules dictate that the court should issue a ruling within 90 days,” Pizer explains. “So once we know what the argument date is—which will be very exciting in its own right—we can anticipate a ruling within three months.
“We can’t guess how particular justices will analyze these issues,” she adds, “but we hope and believe they will find the information relevant. The California Supreme Court knows the rest of the country has looked to their state as a leader in a range of different issues. We're hoping they continue that trend with this case.”
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