No action on Prop 8 (again) from U.S. Supreme Court
Date: Dec. 3, 2012
To members of the news media and interested parties:
Moments ago, the U.S. Supreme Court posted its order list for Dec. 3, 2012 reflecting cases to which it both granted review and denied review in its private conference last Friday. As predicted by most legal pundits late last week, the federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8 (known as Hollingsworth v. Perry) appeared on neither list — meaning no action has yet been taken.
The Perry case’s absence from today’s lists (together with the absence of other cases related to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA) likely means that the high court will consider the same-sex marriage cases at a future conference in the coming weeks to determine whether it will grant or deny review for the coming court term.
The link is here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/120312zor_6k47.pdf
Because we have no real news at this time, the City Attorney will not host a news conference today. However, he will have availability for interviews this week to discuss the case and San Francisco’s long legal battle for marriage equality more generally.
About the Prop 8 (Perry) case
The American Foundation for Equal Rights filed the Perry challenge in May 2009 on behalf two California couples who sought to marry: Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo. Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, who famously squared off in Bush v. Gore in 2000, serve as lead counsel in the case. In August 2009, City Attorney Dennis Herrera intervened as a co-plaintiff in the challenge, renewing San Francisco’s years-long legal advocacy for the compelling public sector interest in ending marriage discrimination against lesbian and gay couples. At trial, Herrera and his legal team provided extensive evidence that state and local governments derive significant societal and economic benefits when same-sex partners enjoy equal marriage rights — and, conversely, that denying such rights inflicts grave harm on the LGBT community, which in turn harms government and society at large.
An excellent explanation of all the cases — Perry as well as challenges to the constitutionality of Section 3 of DOMA — is available here: https://www.scotusblog.com/2012/11/court-to-consider-same-sex-marriage-cases-in-plain-english/
So, no news again today. We continue to keep our fingers crossed here, and I invite you to learn more about the history of San Francisco’s long legal fight for marriage equality on the City Attorney’s website at: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/index.aspx?page=23.
Best,
MATT DORSEY
Press Secretary
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OFFICE OF CITY ATTORNEY DENNIS HERRERA
San Francisco City Hall, Room 234
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, California 94102-4682
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