Friday, December 19, 2008

Calif. AG Brown does about face on Prop 8

Jerry Brown is planning to run for Governor of the state of California (again) and he seems to have determined that he can't win if he gets on the wrong side of the GLBT lobby. So, as the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
State Attorney General Jerry Brown, in a surprise turnabout, asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to overturn Proposition 8, saying the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage violates basic rights guaranteed in the state Constitution.

Brown, who is required to defend state laws unless he cannot find reasonable legal grounds to do so, said after Prop. 8 passed Nov. 4 that he would support the initiative before the state's high court.

But in a lengthy filing late Friday, he argued that the measure was "inconsistent with the guarantees of individual liberty" in California's governing charter.

"Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification," Brown said.

The authors of the state Constitution, he said, did not intend "to put a group's right to enjoy liberty to a popular vote."

1 comment:

karlboll said...

And he is quite right in saying so since his job is to take stand for the constitution.
I think the greatest mistake on the pro8-advocates is to hire Ken Starr, it makes it look like a republican post-election stunt.