King Hall Faculty Present Amicus Brief in Prop 8 Case

  • by Joseph Martin

Professors Carol Bruch, Lisa Ikemoto, and Courtney Joslin were part of a group of more than two dozen law professors submitting an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California regarding Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal court challenge to California's Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban passed by voters in 2008. 

The brief, submitted February 2, supports the plaintiffs' claim that "that there are no reasonable justifications, in terms of the purposes of family law, for depriving individuals of the opportunity to marry someone of the same sex and that Proposition 8 therefore violates plaintiffs' rights under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution." 

Specifically, the brief seeks to address claims by Prop. 8 supporters that the desire to preserve a "traditional" definition of marriage is an adequate justification for denying same-sex couples the right to marry and that, by providing same-sex couples the opportunity to enter into domestic partnerships, California has afforded them a marriage-like status.  Both contentions lack merit from a constitutional or family law perspective, the brief asserts.