Law Commons^™

Perry V. Schwarzenegger: Trying Same-Sex Marriage., Michael J. Ritter

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In 2008, California voters enacted Proposition 8, carving out an exception to the State constitution’s equal protection, due process, and privacy guarantees. After litigation in state court proved ineffective, same-sex couples sought relief in federal court in the widely discussed case Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Though the trial court released its decision only three weeks ago, the case has received attention by the national media and by legal circles throughout the country. This Article addresses the progression of the case of Perry from the filing of the case to its current status before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It offers …

Standing In The Age Of Citizen Revolt: Legislative Standing, Direct Democracy, And The Supreme Court, Frank M. Dickerson Iii, Reid M. Bolton

Frank M. Dickerson III

One of the most interesting questions raised by California’s Proposition 8 is the question of standing for ballot-initiative supporters in defensive litigation. This Article addresses the question raised in the Proposition 8 case and the issue of standing for ballot initiative supporters to defend their initiative on appeal more generally. It suggests that such standing for ballot-initiative sponsors is consistent with both prior Supreme Court precedent and the Constitutional and prudential concerns underlying the doctrine of standing.

Gay-Friendly Legal Scholars Highly Optimistic In Prop. 8 Trial, Joe Eskenazi

Articles About Faculty

No abstract provided.

Taking Initiatives: Reconciling Race, Religion, Media And Democracy In The Quest For Marriage Equality, Anthony E. Varona

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Election Days 2008 and 2009 were disappointing ones for advocates of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans, especially supporters of marriage equality. In this comprehensive article, Professor Varona identifies and examines five interrelated tactical lessons the LGBT movement can glean from these recent defeats. He also provides a roadmap at the end of the Introduction to the article, describing the five subsections devoted to these individual lessons.

Section I, provides an overview of what occurred in the various statewide ballot initiative battles in 2008 and 2009 and then describes the preliminary analyses of the reasons for …

Truth And Consequences: Mitt Romney, Proposition 8, And Public Reason, Frederick Mark Gedicks

Faculty Scholarship

Although formal religious tests for federal office are constitutionally prohibited, they have long been fact of political life in presidential elections. John Kennedy remains the only nonProtestant ever elected President. The "Judeo-Christian tradition" notwithstanding, no major party has ever nominated a Jew for president - let alone a Buddhist, Hindu, Mormon, Muslim, or unbeliever.

Against this electoral history, it was perhaps predictable that mainstream Christian commentators would feel free to legitimate religious attacks on Mitt Romney during the Republican presidential primaries on the ground that Mormonism is a "false" religion. Ironically, however, the Mormon church periodically intervenes in initiative and …

Judicial Elections As Popular Constitutionalism, David E. Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

One of the most important recent developments in American legal theory is the burgeoning interest in "popular constitutionalism." One of the most important features of the American legal system is the selection of state judges – judges who resolve thousands of state and federal constitutional questions each year – by popular election. Although a large literature addresses each of these subjects, scholarship has rarely bridged the two. Hardly anyone has evaluated judicial elections in light of popular constitutionalism, or vice versa.

This Article undertakes that thought experiment. Conceptualizing judicial elections as instruments of popular constitutionalism, the Article aims to show, …