California Supreme Court Will Not Order California to Defend Prop 8

The opponents of civil marriage equality continue to grasp at straws as they seek ways to force the State of California - i.e., the governor and/or attorney general - to defend the unconstitutional Proposition 8. After filing a suit in the 3rd Circuit - which was promptly dismissed - the loonies at Pacific Justice Institute sought to get the California Supreme Court to force Schwarzenegger and/or Brown to appeal the ruling of Judge Walker in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Like the 3rd Circuit, the California Supreme Court quickly dispatched the frivolous filing by Pacific Justice Institute, a Christianist "law firm" that in my view ought to be hit with sanctions for filing such garbage. Like most of the "Christian law firms," Pacific Justice Center thinks the law should be whatever it wants it to be and to Hell with the concept of the separation of powers between the branches of government, not to mention the freedom of religion for others besides Christian Taliban types. Here are highlights from the Houston Chronicle:
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California's highest court on Wednesday refused to order Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's attorney general to appeal a federal ruling that overturned the state's gay marriage ban. The state Supreme Court denied a conservative legal group's request to force the state officials to defend the voter-approved ban.
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The court did not explain why it rejected the emergency petition filed by the Pacific Justice Institute. The institute had argued that the attorney general and governor were required to uphold all laws, including initiatives passed by voters.
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Earlier Wednesday, lawyers for Attorney General Jerry Brown and Schwarzenegger filed letters with the court maintaining state officers have authority to choose which laws they challenge or defend in court. "The governor, like any litigant, has complete discretion over his own litigation strategy, including whether or not to appeal an order," counsel Andrew Stroud wrote for Schwarzenegger. "Here, the governor exercised his discretion and decided not to file an appeal."
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Schwarzenegger, who has been under pressure from fellow Republicans to appeal Walker's decision, has said he supports the judge's verdict. Brown, who is the Democratic nominee to succeed Schwarzenegger as governor, has said he cannot defend Proposition 8 because he agrees it is unconstitutional. "Although it is not every day that the attorney general declines to defend a state law, the state Constitution or an initiative, he may do so because his oath requires him (to) support the United States Constitution as the supreme law of the law," Deputy Attorney General Tamar Pachter wrote on Brown's behalf Wednesday.
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If the federal [9th Circuit] appeals court dismisses the appeal because the ban's proponents lack legal standing, Walker's ruling would become final unless the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to take up the case. If the high court refuses to intervene, gay couples would be able to marry in California again.