[JURIST] California Attorney General Jerry Brown [official website] on Monday urged [press release] the state Supreme Court [official website] to review the petitions [materials; JURIST report] raised in reference to the recent passage [results; JURIST report] of Proposition 8 [text, materials], the voter initiative that amended the state constitution [text] to make same-sex marriage illegal in California. The filing comes after weeks of protests [NYT report; JURIST report] against the initiative. In a preliminary response [text, PDF] submitted to the Court, Brown argued that "the petitions raise issues of statewide importance, implicating not only California's marriage laws but also the initiative process and the Constitution itself." The New York Times has more. AP has additional coverage.

Advocacy groups Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) [advocacy websites] filed a writ petition [text, PDF] last week seeking to invalidate the Proposition 8 amendment. They argue that the new amendment is significant enough to require approval by the State Legislature [official website]. Several other petitions were also filed. The Anti-Defamation League filed a letter [text, PDF] in support of the petition, along with other advocacy groups. There is no time limit for the court in deciding whether to take the cases.