Posted by
TheChair on Thursday, November 13, 2008 10:28:03 PM
Here is the
link to the California Supreme Court's Prop. 8 website. It accumulates and links to all the legal briefs involved. So far, the only Pro-Prop. 8 brief to be filed is the one filed by Pacific Legal Institute. You may have heard of them when they represented the parents of that school whose children were recruited for "ally week." Attorney General Jerry Brown has yet to file anything.
Don't be alarmed, yet. These actions by Prop. 8 opponents are not appeals, so the procedure is a little different. They are petitions for writ, which mean the parties are suing to stop government officials from doing something they shouldn't do, or to make them do something they should do. I have done writ work before. Normally, when an opponent files a petition for writ, the defendant side waits for the court to order an opposition brief. The reason is the discretionary nature of the procedure. In a true appeal, the parties are on statutory deadlines to brief the case, and the appellate court must hear and decide the matter. In an appeal, when one side files a brief, the other side must then file his brief by preset deadline. But in a writ action, the court has much discretion whether even to entertain the matter. The court can look at the writ filer's brief and then throw it in the trashcan if it wants to. It can order the other side to brief the matter. It can decide the matter on the briefs alone, or it can make the parties engage in oral argument.
Here, of course, the California Supreme Court already said it would consider the matter and decide it very soon. It's possible for the court to
decide the matter quickly even without a brief from the Attorney General. But this is what to watch for. If and when Jerry Brown files a brief in opposition, this will show things are moving along quickly and that a decision will soon follow. Meanwhile, be grateful for the Pacific Justice Institute's letter brief reminding the Court there is no precedent or jurisdiction for it to stay a duly enacted constitutional amendment.