From defending Mayor Gavin Newsom’s issuance of same-sex marriage licenses in 2004 to serving as co-counsel to the David Boies-Ted Olson team that toppled Prop 8 in 2013, Dennis Herrera’s office was, as the New York Times reported, “involved in every phase of the legal war over same-sex marriage in California.”
Facing legal challenge, federal government agrees to delay implementation of rule that could have denied medical care to women, LGBTQ patients and others
On the one year anniversary of same sex marriage being reinstated in California, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera reflects on the legal battle for marriage equality that his office was at the forefront of for nearly a decade.
After ‘ProtectMarriage.com’ files motion in state Supreme Court to halt same-sex marriages with flawed technical reasoning, S.F. City Attorney readies opposition
AFER’s Chad Griffin, Dustin Lance Black, Cleve Jones and Adam Umhoefer will join couples and S.F. City Attorney in combined Prop 8 Plaintiff parade contingent
Ruling on jurisdictional question leaves intact U.S. District Court ruling that measure was unconstitutional-but Prop 8 proponents have disputed statewide application
[Last updated: Monday, June 24, 2013, 5:00 p.m. PDT]
To journalists, editors and interested parties:
Now that we’re at the end June — the final week during which we expect the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the constitutional challenge to Prop 8 — I want to offer a quick summary about timing and possible scenarios, and what to expect for your planning purposes about the same-sex marriage ruling. This also provides a brief discussion of issues you are likely to hear legal pundits raise in the coming days, and what the City Attorney’s position on those will be.
S.F. City Attorney who served as co-counsel is ‘confident that this case will produce one of American history’s great landmarks for equal justice under the law’
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.
To members of the news media and interested parties:
I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the U.S. Supreme Court’s much-anticipated decision about whether to grant review in the federal challenge to Proposition 8, to which the San Francisco City Attorney is co-plaintiff along with the American Foundation for Equal Rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court this morning released several opinions from cases argued before the court this term, but neither the Prop 8 case (Perry v. Hollingsworth) nor the DOMA case (United States v. Windsor) was among them. Upshot: no news on Prop 8 today.
SAN FRANCISCO (June 5, 2012)– City Attorney Dennis Herrera today praised the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to reject a call by sponsors of Proposition 8 to rehear that court’s decision invalidating Proposition 8. The Ninth Circuit previously decided that Proposition 8 violated the Equal Protection Clause of the federal Constitution, relying on key arguments made by Herrera’s legal team that Proposition 8 unlawfully stripped rights away from same-sex couples just to make them unequal to other couples. The sponsors of Proposition 8 backers had requested that an 11-judge panel rehear the case.
