image via WikiCommons
In a disappointing move last night, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals put the historic decision overturning Prop 8 on hold. So for now, marriage equality remains unavailable for same-sex couples in the Golden State. You may recall last week Judge Walker had set tomorrow as the day when his stay would expire, opening the possibility that same-sex couples might be able to marry. However supporters of Prop 8 appealed his stay decision to the 9th Circuit which issued their decision last evening.
Two interesting things did however come out of the order by the 9th Circuit last night. First is that the hearing schedule has been extremely expedited. A series of deadlines for written briefs must be completed by November 1, 2010 and then the court has scheduled oral argument for the week of December 6, 2010.
The second issue is that the appeals court specifically asked prop 8 supporters to address the issue of “standing” in their legal briefs. That’s the issue of whether or not the people who argued to maintain marriage discrimination are legally allowed to appeal Judge Walker’s decision. Read more about that in Brian Moulton’s helpful Prop 8 FAQ we posted last week.
While every day without marriage equality is an injustice to same-sex couples, the expedited timeline will hopefully help to bring about a quicker end to the discriminatory marriage ban.
