JURIST - Paper Chase: California governor, AG seek immediate resumption of same-sex marriages

[JURIST] California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown and others filed motions [AG brief, text] Friday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website] opposing a request to stay the court's recent decision [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] enjoining the enforcement of Proposition 8, the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The requested stay would disallow gay marriage in California until the decision is appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and even possibly the US Supreme Court. Schwarzenegger and Brown were originally defendants in the lawsuit against Proposition 8, now leaving defendant-intervenors Project Marriage [advocacy website] and other groups to defend the controversial law. The motion submitted by Brown stated that:

Defendant-Intervenors' argument [in support of] their request for a stay pending appeal ignores the fact that there has now been a trial on the merits that conclusively demonstrated that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. ... [W]hile there is still the potential for limited administrative burdens should future marriages of same-sex couples be later declared invalid, these potential burdens are outweighed by this Court's conclusion, based on the overwhelming evidence, that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional

The Plaintiffs' brief in opposition [PDF] to the request for a stay argued that plaintiffs and other gay and lesbian Californians will "suffer irreparable harm if Proposition 8's irrational deprivation of their constitutional rights is prolonged."

The Wednesday ruling found that Proposition 8 violated the 14th Amendment's guarantees to Equal Protection and Due Process. The case began in January and culminated with closing arguments [JURIST reports] in June.