Briefs in Proposition 8 Cases

Here are some of the briefs filed today in the Proposition 8 cases, which are not yet available on the California Supreme Court's website. Here is the answer filed by Respondents Scott and Horton. The brief filed by the Attorney General is here; unfortunately, it was scanned upside down, so to read it you either need to print it or stand on your head in front of your computer. The brief filed by the proponents is here. Of course, the big news is that the Attorney General contends that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional. Interestingly, though, he has a different argument than the Petitioners. He does not claim that Prop. 8 is a revision of the California Constitution; indeed, he says it isn't. Instead, he argues that, even if it is a constitutional amendment rather than a revision, the initiative power doesn't give the electorate the right to take away fundamental rights from a suspect class. Here are articles about the AG's position from the Sacramento Bee (here), the New York Times (here). the Los Angeles Times (here) and the San Francisco Chronicle (here).