January 21, 2009

Dear Friend,

I am writing to update you on our committee’s efforts to defend Prop 8 against legal challenges before the California Supreme Court.

ProtectMarriage.com is the only group before the Supreme Court that is defending Prop 8 and the rights of the people given to us by the Constitution. This is an expensive battle. We are up against the Attorney General and attorneys representing some of the state’s largest counties. Our adversaries enjoy taxpayer funding or represent well-heeled interest groups that support same-sex marriage. We are relying on you and other supporters of Prop 8 to help us defend traditional marriage in California. Please help us continue our fight by clicking here to make a contribution to the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund. Your contribution is tax-deductible and will not be publicly disclosed.

On January 5th, we filed our answer to the brief of Attorney General Jerry Brown. The Attorney General agreed with us that Prop 8 is neither a revision to the state constitution, nor does it violate the separation of powers doctrine. Our brief embraced the Attorney General’s conclusions in these regards. However, one portion of the Attorney General brief advanced a novel legal theory that even though Prop 8 was a valid amendment to the state constitution, it should be invalidated because it allegedly violates the “inalienable” rights of same sex couples to liberty. Our answer noted that the Attorney General’s theory was “utterly without foundation in this Court’s case law.” The brief, submitted by Kenneth Starr, former Solicitor General of the United States, said, “The Attorney General’s theory fails at every level because the people have the final word on what the California Constitution says and there is no higher legal authority within California to which the judiciary can appeal.”  The brief also warned that accepting the argument of the Attorney General, “is inviting this Court to declare a constitutional revolution” that would fundamentally alter the role of the judiciary, putting them in the role of “supreme overseer” of the people’s constitution-making power, a result patently contrary to popular sovereignty.

Today, ProtectMarriage.com filed briefs with the California Supreme Court in response to dozens of amicus (“friend of the court”) briefs filed urging the Court to invalidate Prop 8. Our brief summarizes their arguments thusly: “Invalidate the duly enacted provision of the Constitution.  Ignore the will of the people, even if expressed following an open, fair election.”

Despite the emotions swirling among our opponents, the law is clear that Prop 8 is valid and that the democratic process should be respected. Of the argument of our opponents, the brief says, “Those sincerely-held emotions should play their way out in the ongoing democratic conversation about the future of marriage in a democratic society – where we the people govern. . .The Constitution has now been amended, by the sovereign people who are its creators.  That is the beginning and end of this case.”

One of the questions to be decided in the litigation is the fate of the estimated 18,000 marriages performed in the interim between the time the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and Election Day when the people enacted Proposition 8. Our brief today reminded the Court that despite losing the status of marriage, those same-sex couples will continue to enjoy virtually all the legal rights of marriage. In addition, they can avail themselves of California’s expansive domestic partnership legislation. These laws provide that domestic partners enjoy essentially all the legal rights, privileges, benefits and duties of marriage afforded by the state of California.

We are very fortunate to have such a prominent constitutional scholar as Kenneth Starr on our team of attorneys working to defend Proposition 8. But this defense is an expensive undertaking. Our opponents have unlimited access to taxpayer resources or can tap the support of wealthy groups fighting to legalize same-sex marriage. Please help us continue the fight to preserve Proposition 8 by making a contribution now. Your contribution will not be publicly disclosed, but will make a major difference in our ability to fight for traditional marriage.

Thank you for your support of traditional marriage.

NOTE: All the briefs that we have filed can be accessed from the California Supreme Court’s website at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/.

Thank you so much for your attention and support.

Very truly yours,

ANDREW P. PUGNO
General Counsel
Prop. 8 Legal Defense Fund

 www.protectmarriage.com