Message from Ron Prentice

September 24, 2010

Last Friday the Proposition 8 Legal Defense team submitted a 134-page Opening Brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. By today’s end, more than two dozen other organizations will have submitted amicus (friend of the court) briefs, adding supporting argument for the overturning of Judge Vaughan Walker’s decision against Prop 8 and the people of California.

In response to various “facts” of finding listed in Judge Walker’s opinion, numerous groups will specifically target sections and themes of Walker’s judgment. For example, in the Prop 8 Legal Defense team’s brief, past decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and several district courts of appeal will show Walker’s opinion to contradict higher court rulings. Some excerpts from the brief include:

• . . .every appellate court decision, both state and federal, to address the validity of traditional opposite-sex marriage laws under the federal Constitution has upheld them as rationally related to the state’s interest in responsible procreation and child-rearing. (p. 3)
• In Baker v. Nelson, 409 U.S. 810 (1972), as previously noted, the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed, “for want of substantial federal question,” an appeal from the Minnesota Supreme Court presenting the same questions at issue here: whether a State’s refusal to authorize same-sex marriage violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. (p. 44)
• This Court [the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals] has likewise rejected claims that the Federal Constitution bars the government from limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. In Adams v. Howerton, 673 F.2d 1036 (9th Cir. 1982), this Court interpreted “spouse” in a federal immigration provision to exclude partners in a purported same-sex marriage, and squarely held that “Congress’s decision to confer spouse status … only upon the parties to heterosexual marriages has a rational basis and therefore comports with the due process clause and its equal protection requirements.” (p. 46)
• The district court’s decision conflicts not only with Baker and Adams, but also the decisions of every other state or federal appellate court to address the validity of the traditional opposite-sex definition of marriage under the Federal Constitution, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, two State courts of final resort, and four intermediate State courts, including two within this Circuit. The district court’s decision thus stands in stark conflict with the consistent, considered, and unanimous judgment of this Nation’s appellate courts. (pp. 46-47)
  

If you have read many of the secular media’s portrayals of this case, the above few quotes should have been enlightening. Unlike the Prop 8 Legal Defense team, the media hasn’t done its homework. 

In addition, Advocates for Faith and Freedom filed an opening brief that argues for the County of Imperial to be granted standing as a defendant-intervenor, just as the City and County of San Francisco were granted intervention with the plaintiffs. 

The Western Center for Law and Policy submitted an amicus brief that clearly demonstrates that gender orientation is changeable, giving evidence in biographies that represent thousands of former homosexuals now living as happy and fulfilled heterosexuals.

And representing California Family Council and many of the aligned family policy councils across the country, Liberty Institute submitted an amicus brief that outlines the legal history and strength of the initiative process and the authority of the people in self-government.    

There will be additional volleys of submitted briefs by plaintiffs and the Prop 8 Legal Defense team prior to oral arguments taking place the week of December 6. Please continue to pray for the selection of the 3-judge panel to hear the appeal, and for continued wisdom in preparation.

Finally, I must remind you that California Family Council is only supported by the generosity of charitable gifts from individuals and families. Thank you for your help.

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