California Supreme Court: Prop 8 Backers Can Challenge Court Ruling

On Thursday the California Supreme Court ruled that ProtectMarriage.com, the official proponent of Proposition 8, has legal standing to challenge the 2010 decision by District Judge Vaughn Walker which overturned the ban on same-sex marriage. Now that the issue of standing has been settled, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will be able to decide the case on its merits and determine whether or not Prop 8 is unconstitutional. Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage, a key Prop 8 contributor, stated that while he fully expects the Ninth Circuit to invalidate Prop 8 and find "some phony right to same-sex marriage in the U.S. Constitution", he nevertheless expects victory "once this case gets out of San Francisco" and reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.

9th Circuit extends Judge Walker's stay on CA same-sex marriages

• Check out this blogger article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

• NPR had a brief, but interesting perspective on the radio this morning from Erwin Chemerinsky, Professor of Law at the University of California at Irvine. (Students may recognize his name if you carried around the giant and very helpful Constitutional Law supplement that he authored.) Professor Chemerinsky stated in his sound bite that the 9th circuit most likely made the decision to extend the expiration date of the stay so that the matter would not go to the Supreme Court.

• Professor Chemerinsky also wrote a very interesting article earlier this week for the LA Times about the appeal process of the Prop 8 decision. He writes that the Supreme Court could find that opponents of same-sex marriage have no legal standing to appeal the decision made by Judge Walker. Read the whole article here.

BREAKING: PROP 8 OVERTURNED!

Howard Mintz of San Jose Mercury news reported throughout the Prop 8 trial. Now he brings us the news that Judge Vaughn Walker has overturned California's ban on same-sex marriage, finding it unconstitutional.
Read the full article here.

Prop 8 decision to come today

The decision in the Prop 8 case should be handed down by Judge Vaughn Walker at some point today. Check back for further developments.

Text EQUAL to 69866 to receive a text message with the decision as soon as it happens.

Closing Arguments: Prop. 8 Trial in San Francisco

Howard Mintz maintained a live blog throughout the Prop. 8 trial and is now doing the same for closing arguments. Check this link throughout the day for updates.

New arguments filed in Prop 8 case

The Associated Press reported that on Friday, counsel for Proposition 8 sponsors filed new arguments for Chief U.S Judge Vaughn Walker to consider. The new arguments claim that same-sex marriages would undermine heterosexual marriages by opening the door for polygamist marriages, among other things. Plaintiffs' counsel states that there is no evidence to support that claim.

Check back for updates on the scheduling of closing arguments in this case.