ProtectMarriage.com Urges Supreme Court to Reject Effort Denying Voters Right to Vote on Marriage Amendment
Contact: Frank Schubert,
ProtectMarriage.com,
916-849-6627
SACRAMENTO, June 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- Attorneys for ProtectMarriage.com today sent a letter to the California Supreme Court urging the Court to reject a last minute filing by backers of gay marriage to prohibit voters from enacting the California Marriage Amendment this November. The amendment restores the vote of 61% of the electorate who previously approved Proposition 22 defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. The organization "Equality California" with support for liberal groups including the ACLU filed a petition late Friday demanding that the justices prohibit voters from considering the proposed amendment.
"Backers of gay marriage have never secured anything close to a majority of Californians to support their position," said Ron Prentice, Chairman of ProtectMarriage.com. "They have had to rely on activist judges to do their bidding because voters do not support them. However, the People's right to vote on critical measures like this is of paramount importance and we believe the Supreme Court will rightfully allow voters to have their say."
Attorneys for the ProtectMarriage.com coalition, which is sponsoring the Marriage Amendment, said the Equality California lawsuit does not hold any merit and consists of flimsy legal arguments that will not hold up in court.
The suit contends said that the Marriage Amendment, a constitutional amendment, cannot be legally accomplished by a voter initiative, but instead must be passed through a different process for constitutional "revisions," which would stop the initiative all together.
A similar request to block such an initiative in Oregon was denied by that state's Court of Appeal as it was found not to be a revision under almost identical provisions to the California state constitution.
"We are confident that the California courts will throw this lawsuit in the round file so voters can reaffirm the decision they made several years ago when 61% of the electorate voted to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman," said Prentice.
