Proponents of California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that found the voter-approved measure unconstitutional.
The petition, which was expected, was filed today in Washington, backers of the 2008 proposition said in an e-mail. The Supreme Court’s next session begins Oct. 1.
A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled 2-1 in February that voters couldn’t deprive gay couples of the right to marry. The court upheld a federal judge’s 2010 ruling striking down Proposition 8, which amended California’s constitution to say marriage is only between a man and a woman.
A majority of judges on the federal appeals court refused in June to rehear the case, paving the way for today’s petition to the Supreme Court to review the lawsuit. Proposition 8 was approved by 52 percent of California voters in 2008, outlawing gay weddings, which had been legalized by the California Supreme Court earlier that year. The measure remains in effect by court order.
The case is Perry v. Brown, 10-16696, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco).
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