California Attorney General Tells Pro-Prop 8 Appealers To STFU

In another satisfying blow to Proposition 8’s sponsors, California’s attorney general Kamala Harris filed an amicus brief to the state Supreme Court saying that “only public officials exercising the executive power of government have authority to represent the state when laws passed by voters or the Legislature are challenged.” What that means is that only Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and then Attorney General Jerry Brown had the legal standing as the state’s executive officers to defend Prop 8 in courts. But since they opted not to, no one else has the standing to do so, despite opposition claims that they have a vested interest in protecting the anti-gay law.

Kamala says, “California law affords an initiative’s proponents no right to defend the validity of a successful initiative measure based only on their role in launching an initiative process,” Harris wrote. The state supreme court will decide if the sponsors have standing to intervene. If they do not, the lower court ruling overturning Proposition 8 will stand. Oh well. Maybe the H8ers will be able to prove that Judge Walker Vaughn was too gay to rule fairly in the case. And maybe they’ll also be able to spin hay into gold!