Reported by Chris Geidner and just confirmed by CBS News: at 12:45 Pacific time, Judge Walker announced effective August 18th at 5pm, the stay of his Proposition 8 decision in Perry V Schwarzenegger will expire. That means marriage equality will be--at least on August 18th at 5pm--law in California.
What now?
According to Chris Geidner from MetroWeekly, the Defense will immediately file a motion to maintain a stay of the ruling in the 9th Circuit, with a decision to come within the next few days, but almost surely today.
If they don't get what they want in the 9th Circuit the Defense will try to make an appeal to the Supreme Court Justice in charge of appeals coming up through the 9th district. That SCOTUS Justice happens to be Justice Kennedy, the most quoted Justice in Judge Walker's decision.
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All of this beaurocracy is creating more cost in paperwork than wedding invitations! ...For a state that can ill afford it, we might add.
The appeal would likely be heard by the 9th Circuit motions panel for the month of August that is comprised of Senior Judge Edward Leavy, a Reagan appointee, and two Clinton appointees: Judges Michael Hawkins and Sidney Thomas.
Let's remember that both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and AG Jerry Brown took positions against the stay pretty much immediately after Walker's ruling of Prop8 unconstitutionality last week, with Brown declaring in a court filing that "the harm to the plaintiffs outweighs any harm to the state defendants."
That raises the question of standing; with the government defendants saying they won't appeal, do the proponents of Prop 8, as intervenors, have standing? We could find that there is zero grounds for appeal and it is denied.
Word on the street is there will be no further stay.
Let's hope not!
If the 9th Circuit denies a stay in the decision, and the Defense has to bother Justice Kennedy about it, won't that raise the temperature of the case? Kennedy sided with the Defense when it came to YouTube, it seems he may again lean toward the side of caution and grant a stay in the case, does it not?
All I know is all that I've read, and not being a legal mind, I'm only piecing together bits and pieces frantically in order to try to get some sort of a picture out of my crystal ball. However, it seems to me that--looking at the history of this particular case itself--Kennedy isn't likely to throw caution to the wind.
And if neither the 9th nor Kennedy implements a stay on the decision, doesn't that say something really really positive about what we can expect as the outcome of the case?
Well, good for them. No stay on prop 8 was granted while the lawsuits to repeal it were going through, so this seems like a fair result.
Dr Jillian, please tell us whence comes this "word on the street"!! I know you must have insider info, don't leave us hangin'!! :-0
Hoping to move back to SF soon,
Jake
Phoenix
Maricopa Co
Arizona (home of the evil Alliance Defense Fund)