WHAT: The California Supreme Court will hold three hours of oral arguments from 9.am-noon Thursday, March 6 on three lawsuits seeking to overturn Proposition 8, the ballot measure that amended the state constitution to reinstate the ban on same-sex marriage the court threw out last year.
WHO: Lawyers representing same-sex couples and a group of local governments led by the city of San Francisco will get 90 minutes to present their arguments. The lawyers are Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights; Chief Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart and Michael Maroko, a partner of Los Angeles lawyer Gloria Allred.
The sponsors of Proposition 8 will have an hour. They are being represented by Pepperdine law school dean Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown has taken the unusual step of declining to defend the initiative. Deputy Attorney General Christopher Krueger will have half an hour to explain the state’s position.
WHO ELSE: A record number of 62 friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed in the case, more than two-thirds of them in support of striking down the same-sex marriage ban. They are available for viewing at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/highprofile/prop8.htm#casefilings
WHERE: Same-sex marriage advocates are planning to hold candlelight vigils across California the night before the hearing and are encouraging supporters to rally outside the courthouse on Thursday.