Posted by
TheChair on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 9:43:08 AM
The Prop. 8 legal briefs keep flooding in to the California Supreme Court. Briefs for Amendment's opposition continue to sprout like mushrooms, partly because the lawsuits themselves are multiplying. At last count, there are now six challenges to Proposition 8. There's even more briefing under the surface... l
ook under the hood here, in the lead case. Meanwhile, only a few briefs in support of Prop. 8 have been filed. Fortunately, all we need to prevail is
one good brief like this, from Chapman Law's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. It is a masterpiece of clear, concise legal writing written in plain English. Impossibly short at only four pages, it nevertheless covers all the imaginable issues. It is most persuasive and gives supporters much hope. (Perhaps Shakespeare was wrong about lawyers.) Read the whole thing and pass it on.
Prop. 8's official proponents also submitted an excellent early brief. Its Section II, pp. 7-11 are worth skimming.
Meanwhile,
Attorney General Jerry Brown went out on a limb and asked the Court to accept and decide the cases (oooo, what a daring position), and not to stay Proposition 8 during the litigation. Hooray. Why didn't he brief the merits of the cases? Why didn't he stick up for the legality of Proposition 8? Hey, you know what they say about gift horses. At least he didn't come out and brief for the opposition directly.
This S.F. Chronicle article fairly summarizes the key issues, and rightly lays out the odds against Prop. 8's challengers.
L.A. Times notes the specter of recall hanging in the air. But the best reading right now for Prop. 8 supporters is
the Chapman Law legal brief.