by Rex Wockner
Forty-four California legislators filed a brief with the state Supreme Court on Nov. 10 urging that Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that voters passed to re-ban same-sex marriage, be overturned.
Signers included Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass.
Gay groups and others have filed suit seeking to invalidate Prop. 8, arguing that it unconstitutionally "revised" the constitution, rather than merely amending it.
When changes in the constitution have far-reaching effects on the document's structure and purpose, the process of amending it must begin in the state Legislature, with a two-thirds vote. The process cannot start solely with voters signing petitions, as was the case with Prop. 8.
"Proposition 8 is invalid because the initiative process was improperly used in an attempt to undo the constitution's core commitment to equality for everyone by eliminating a fundamental right from just one group – lesbian and gay Californians," said the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
