California High Court Takes Prop 8 Standing Question (MetroWeekly)
The California Supreme Court granted the request to take the certified question, as requested by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger challenge to Proposition 8 -- putting off same-sex marriages in California for at least an additional eight months.
What does this mean?
Under the U.S. Constitution, there must be an actual "case or controversy" presented to a federal court in order for it to hear a case. This often plays out in federal courts in a debate over standing. In the Perry challenge to Proposition 8, none of the parties who enforce Proposition 8 -- state officials, including the governor and attorney general -- chose to appeal the Aug. 4, 2010, trial court ruling that struck down Proposition 8 as unconstitutional. The proponents of Proposition 8 have attempted to appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit, but the Ninth Circuit cannot hear the appeal if no party with standing to appeal the ruling does so.
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Complete article at Metro Weekly : http://bit.ly/fzqPjj
