SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Alliance Defense Fund and ProtectMarriage attorneys will immediately appeal Friday’s decision by a California judge that upheld wording changes made to the Proposition 8 ballot title by the state attorney general. The appeal will ask the California Court of Appeal to order the attorney general to comply with state election law that requires that the ballot title be fair and unbiased.
“Election ballot titles should be neutral and not intentionally prejudice voters,” said ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco. “The ballot title is argumentative and not impartial. The AG’s job is to apply the law in a way that’s fair to all Californians, not in a way that influences elections. We will immediately appeal the ruling because the purpose of this amendment is to protect marriage broadly as the union of one man and one woman.”
The attorney general changed the ballot title on Proposition 8, also known as the California Marriage Protection Act, from “limit on marriage” to “eliminates right of same-sex couples to marry.”
More than a million Californians signed official petitions containing the original ballot title language in order to put Proposition 8 on the November ballot. If approved by voters, Proposition 8 would add the following words to California’s constitution: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
In July, the California Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit filed by anti-amendment groups that sought to remove Proposition 8 from the ballot (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4611).
The decision from the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, in Jansson v. Bowen is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/JanssonRuling.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
www.telladf.org www.domawatch.org
Related Information
Appellate Petition for Writ of Mandate, 8.8.2008