In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday that appears to open the door for gay marriage in California, Proposition 8 supporters vowed to continue their fight in favor of the ballot measure approved by voters in 2008.
ProtectMarriage.com’s general counsel Andy Pugno issued a statement that suggested the group favored the high court’s ruling, which stated that the group did not have standing to defend Proposition 8.
“While it is unfortunate that the Court’s ruling does not directly resolve questions about the scope of the trial court’s order against Prop 8, we will continue to defend Prop 8 and seek its enforcement until such time as there is a binding statewide order that renders Prop 8 unenforceable,” Pugno said in the statement.
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The statement referred to the ruling as a “refusal to invalidate California’s constitutional amendment protecting marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”
Pugno said the decision was “gratifying” for voters who has “seen their vote stripped away from them.”
“We are pleased that the Supreme Court has reversed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ misguided decision that sought to invalidate Proposition 8,” Pugno said.
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The justices voted 5-4 that ProtectMarriage.com did not have standing under federal law to defend Proposition 8. The ruling effectively lets stand a trial court's August 2010 ruling that overturned the state's voter-approved gay marriage ban.
The National Organization for Marriage, meanwhile, sharply condemned the Supreme Court ruling Wednesday, calling the ruling "illegitimate" and saying the decisions had "stained" the court.
"In a miscarriage of justice the US Supreme Court has refused to consider the decision of a single federal court judge to overturn the perfectly legal action of over 7 million California voters who passed Proposition 8 defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman," said Brain Brown, the organization's president, in a statement.
"The Supreme Court's holding that proponents of an initiative had no legal right to appeal ignores California law and rewards corrupt politicians for abandoning their duty to defend traditional marriage laws. It's imperative that Congress continue to preserve the right of states to protect true marriage and refuse to recognize faux marriages performed in other states or countries," Brown continued.
Proposition 8 passed with 52.24 percent of the vote in 2008. Statewide polls since that election have showed a majority of California voters now support gay marriage, including a USC/Los Angeles Times poll released earlier this month.
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