Federal Court Strikes Down California Gay Marriage Ban

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Court Rejects State Ban on Gay Marriage

By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER and JESS BRAVIN

SAN FRANCISCO—A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down California's voter-mandated ban on gay marriages, but stopped short of finding that other states or the federal government were required to recognize same-sex marriage.

The decision sets the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on gay marriage as soon as next year, and could add fuel to the issue in the presidential campaign.

In a 2-1 vote, a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said California's 2008 law, popularly known as Proposition 8, violated the 14th Amendment's equal-protection clause by stigmatizing a minority group without legitimate reason.

"Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," wrote Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who was appointed to the court by former President Jimmy Carter.
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Tuesday's decision is likely just a way station en route to the Supreme Court, although Proposition 8's backers could first ask an expanded 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit to re-hear the case.

The two judges behind the ruling sidestepped the broader issue of whether there was a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry. By focusing instead on specifics of how same-sex marriages were first allowed and then forbidden in California, Judge Reinhardt's opinion seemed more likely to survive any eventual Supreme Court scrutiny, said legal analysts.


Full Story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 19256.html