Washington D.C., Aug 4, 2010 / 16:59 pm
Critics are denouncing Wednesday's ruling by a U.S. district judge who struck down the voter-approved Proposition 8, a measure that defined marriage as between one man and one woman in California. One pro-family group reacted saying the decision's impact could “be devastating to marriage and the democratic process.”
In a landmark case, U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Proposition 8, an initiative which passed in November 2008 with the support of seven million Californians, both “unconstitutionally burdens the exercise of the fundamental right to marry and creates an irrational classification on the basis of sexual orientation.”
The constitutionality of Prop. 8 was challenged immediately after it was approved in 2008. Today's ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then up to the Supreme Court by the pro-traditional marriage group, ProtectMarriage.com.
Andy Pugno, general counsel for ProtectMarriage.com, responded to the decision saying, “Today’s ruling is clearly a disappointment. The judge’s invalidation of the votes of over seven million Californians violates binding legal precedent and short-circuits the democratic process. But this is not the end of our fight to uphold the will of the people for traditional marriage, as we now begin an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”