California AG Urges Court to Hear Marriage Cases

California attorney general Jerry Brown urged the state supreme court to review legal challenges to Proposition 8, according to his statement on Monday. Brown said that the court's ruling was necessary to ensure that all state agencies are cohesive in enforcing laws and policies.

"There is significant public interest in prompt resolution of the legality of Proposition 8," said Deputy Attorney General Mark Benington in a statement. The supreme court could choose to issue a stay on Prop. 8, thus halting its enforcement until the court rules on the ballot measure's constitutionality. Unless a stay or a ruling is handed down, Prop. 8 is legal and gay couples have no legal right to marriage in the state.

The Attorney General “steered clear of taking a position on the validity of the voter-approved ballot measure, which restored California's ban on gay marriages. Instead, the attorney general argued that the justices must agree to review legal challenges to Proposition 8 to "provide certainty and finality in this matter.

Lower courts typically hear cases before the supreme court agrees whether to review them, but petitioners have asked the state's highest court to directly accept the review, in order to promptly resolve the issue.

Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle in August that if Prop. 8 were to pass, he believed that same-sex marriages performed before its passage would be found valid by the courts.

While Brown's position is that all the marriages performed before Nov. 4 are still legal, he asked the court not to issue a stay on the gay marriage ban as it would cause further confusion. None of the proceedings today dealt with the issue of the validity of Prop. 8, but rather, whether the court should address the question.