Attorney General Moonbeam flip-flops on Prop. 8
California AG Jerry Brown promised to uphold the will of the people.
Then the anti-Prop. 8 mob reared its ugly head.
So, now he’s changed his mind.
Feel the power of the rainbow-colored fist:
The California attorney general has changed his position on the state’s new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8.
Jerry Brown filed a brief Friday saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is unconstitutional. He says it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right.
After California voters passed Proposition 8 on Nov. 4, Brown said he would fight to uphold the initiative in his role as attorney general, even though he personally voted against it.
He submitted his brief in one of the three legal challenges to Proposition 8 brought by same-sex marriage supporters.
More on his brief from LAT:
It is the attorney general’s duty to defend the state’s laws, and after gay rights activists filed legal challenges to Proposition 8, which amended the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, Brown said he planned to defend the proposition as enacted by the people of California.
But after studying the matter, Brown concluded that “Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification.”
Backers of Proposition 8 expressed anger at Brown’s decision not to honor the will of voters, who approved the measure in November. “It’s outrageous,”said Frank Schubert, campaign manager for Proposition 8.
Proposition 8 foes, however, were elated. “Atty. Gen. Brown’s position that Proposition 8 should be invalidated demonstrates that he is a leader of courage and conviction,” said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California.
In his brief to the high court, Brown noted that the California Constitution says that “all people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights,” which include a right to “privacy.”
The courts have previously said the right of a person to marry is protected as one of those inalienable rights, Brown wrote. The question at the center of the gay marriage cases, he told the justices, “is whether rights secured under the state Constitution’s safeguard of liberty as an ‘inalienable’ right may intentionally be withdrawn from a class of persons by an initiative amendment.” That, he concluded, should not be allowed.
Although voters are allowed to amend other parts of the Constitution by majority vote, to use the ballot box to take away an “inalienable” right would establish a “tyranny of the majority,” which the Constitution was designed, in part, to prevent, he wrote. “For we are talking, necessarily, about rights of individuals or groups against the larger community, and against the majority — even an overwhelming majority — of the society as a whole.”
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What a surprise. Trying to declare a constitutional amendment unconstitutional. Only in LaLaland.
My dad used to tell me when I was younger that the U.S. would likely have another civil war of sorts in my lifetime. I believe he thought it would be race related; now it seems more likely that it will be over ideology. There is a very vocal minority in this country hell bent on rocking the boat in the name of liberalism… will of the people be damned. We are becoming a nation of spoiled brats and crybabies. God help us all.
The majority of the voters are the only group that cannot expect tolerance.
Tolerance to gays = agree with everything they say or do.
This ‘ignore the voters’ & ‘ignore the constitution’ crap is starting to get real scary.
Add in our socialist black liberation theologist pres-elect from who the hell knows where and Davids dad (see comment 2) might be correct.
Or else.
Just listen to the UAW pres, he knows.
Boy I can’t wait to get out of this state.
Voters vote to amend constitution. Constitutional amendmment declared unconstitutional.
Apparently, the people of the State of California were mistaken when they thought they had the right to decide amendments.
And, when did the right to marry become an inalienable right?
A flip-flop, flippty-flip-flip-flop you don’t stop… Typical Liberal Hypocrisy…
More accurate.
Same old same old for Moonbeam - he’s been a flipflopper all of in inglorious political career.
This is what political correctness has given us.
Welcome to the age of “Living” Constitutions, folks…next up will be the “living” mortgage on your home or car…
I have a good feeling about this thread.
The California Constitution was amended to provide that marriage was only between a man and a woman. Now Brown says that the constitution as amended is unconstitutional. But how can a constitution violate itself?
If the constitution is amended to say that Eskimos can be denied driver’s licenses, then by definition refusing to issue a driver’s license to an Eskimo can’t be unconstitutional.
Conclusion: Jerry Brown is a freakin’ idiot.
You haven’t been paying attention. That’s already been happening – as long as you’re a deadbeat who doesn’t pay your bills. They’ll rewrite the rules, and if you still don’t want to pay, they’ll rewrite them again. Free houses, free cars, all courtesy of us taxpayers.
Brown is a disgusting fool. This is typical; the people speak then the elitist, left wing politicians do whatever they damn well please. Democracy in this country is a farce.
Loving v. Virginia (1967) found that marriage was a basic human right and that there was no legitimate state interest in banning interracial marriage. Or, as some people called them, untraditional marriage.
Since there’s no legitimate state interest in banning gay marriage, well, there you go.
By the way, I love going home to Massachusetts for the holidays. The commonwealth has totally gone to Hell since gay marriage was instituted.
It is suspicious to me that now Obama is getting lambasted by gays by his position on Prop 8 and getting Warren for invocation that suddenly this reverse of course by Brown ensues.
Isn’t the AG an position filled by an election? It’s flat amazing to me this clown keeps running for something just to have a job, and he keeps getting elected. I’ve never heard much good from his work in any of them either. He works hard, for Jerry Brown.
Tis the land of fruit and nuts is it not.
I am very sorry, but there is no right to marry. It is licensed by the state. Rights are not nor do they need to be licensed. Marriage is a privedge just like driving. You must meet certain qualifications, take a blood test (in CA) and pay for a license. The people of the state of California have decided only those of opposite sex are eligable to be married. How dare state elected officials go against the will of the people?
Granted, but in interracial marriages, you are still dealing with a man and a woman. Society most certainly has an interest in who is raising children.
jangar,
Thanks for the correction. Your editing is indeed more accurate… and more frightening.
So if current laws grant LGBTs all the same legal rights by civil unions, one must conclude they want something more, like moral equivalency.
Tax laws, tax laws, tax laws.
This comes as no surprise, in fact, I was certain this would be the case. Moonbeam Brown (as well as his dad) has been a pox on this state as long as I can remember. If the will of the people is disrespected and trashed once again by the Supreme Court then all 50 (no BHO, there is not 57) states better prepare for the onslaught of the Jihadosexuals.
Prop 8 was the answer to what the state Supreme Court had said was wrong with our first attempt to get this done. The drafters of 8 fixed the wording to comply with the SSC’s previous ruling. If they now rule against this again then the rule of law will only apply to what the left thinks and damn the rest of us–the majority.
I don’t understand. If a majority of the people of a state amend their constitution to restrict marriage to be between a man and a woman, how can it be unconstitutional? It is the constitution, therefore it is constitutional. Am I missing something here? How can it not be itself?
So whatcha waiting for, dodger? I left almost 9 years ago and have been laughing at my home state ever since. It isn’t the same Ronald Reagan California I grew up in, for sure.
I didn’t think it was over when we addressed it last time, I think in 2000. Have no doubt – the courts will overturn it, will of the people be damned.
And Moonbeam says “tyranny of the majority”? Using that convoluted logic we should be able to “invalidate” the election of Barack Obama, yes? Or the outcome of any election. Brown – what a fool.
Dodge, come on out to Texas, we’d love to have you. Ain’t perfect, but it’s a whole lot better than The People’s Republic of Kalifornia.
Hah! I can’t wait to get out of this COUNTRY.
So, what are you waiting for?
And
Short answer: It can’t. This is one where the voters won and did it right.
So, anything the SC of CA does will have to be to strictly interpret the CONSTITUTION as written and amended BY LAW by its CITIZENS. Besides, such an early challenge could not have any precedent as that would be impossible under a new law. Anything else would be judicial activism and should be grounds for impeachment of the SC justices who think otherwise.
If they had put this much effort into strong-arming people before the election, they might not have lost.
It’s over. Get over it. Go have another S&M parade for children in SF. They love you. No one else in the state (or country) does. Your sick ideology is not welcome here.
Love,
Red States (aka Fly-over Country)
“all people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights,” which include a right to “privacy.”
People are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights. People are “by nature” born naked and helpless, easy prey to predators and tyrants.
Oops, sorry, first paragragh should be in a quote box, from above article.
re #31
Not very surprising. AG Moonbeam and all others of his ilk don’t see the will of the people, as expressed at the ballot box, as anything they should respect unless it coincidentally agrees with their opinion. Liberals/fascists don’t give in. Hey, look at Al Franken. He’ll keep coming up with more ballots until he wins, just like LBJ won his first Senate race in Texas…with just as much validity.
I hate to say this but I loathe Californians. They are like locusts. They vote for extreme Liberal Democrats time after time and when the politicians they have voted into toffice raise taxes, raise taxes again, impose regulations, or thwart the will of the people, many Liberal Californians uproot themselves and move eastward. Yet they utterly fail to learn any lessons whatsoever about the types of politicians and policies they support and so begin voting for the exact type of politicians in their new homes. Thus they import the same recklessness they voted for in CA. When will the rest of the nation wake up and bar Californians entry before they wreak havoc on their new homes? Liberals are like locusts and must be exterminated.
av8tr said “So whatcha waiting for, dodger?”
It shouldn’t be too long now. got delayed due to the drop in home prices. It will probably be CO though.
#34, New Yorkers do the same thing…
Prop.187 comes quickly to mind as well..
We Patriotic Californians stay because someone must stand in the gap…
IT’S A LICENSE AND NOT A RIGHT!!!!!
GEEES!!
Gay’s haven’t been banned from getting married so this doesn’t really apply. Any gay person can marry somebody of the opposite sex but they want special rights to marry the same sex.
There have already been plenty of gay’s that has been married without special rights. Former NJ Gov Jim McGreevey and Sen Larry WIDESTANCE Craig just to name a few. They weren’t denied the right to marry a women. Neither was Arianna Huffington’s husband was denied the right to marry that skank.
AG Brown evidently thinks California’s Constitution belongs to the judges and lawyers, not to the people.
Kiss the governor’s chair goodbye, Jerry!
You’re telling me. Even our snow is pink.
Uh, DerKrieger, please put away your far too broad brush and suppositions regarding the emigration patterns of other Americans. The eastern states already have a bad enough rep for elitism; you don’t need to feed the storyline. If you read my comments in #25 you might see that we in Cali are not all “locusts” and the problem of leftist scum moving into any one state and causing probs is not limited to Cali transplants. Crapachusettes (see #41) is full of the leftist miscreants you refer to–as well as the rest of the New England area—Clinton’s/Kennedy’s/Kerry’s etc.?
As far as the west is concerned don’t forget WA. State and Oregon. The problem you speak of being “outsiders” moving to wherever you live and making changes you don’t like, where is the voting-block you are sided with? You’re blaming Cali for your states probs is the same as the Jihadosexuals blaming us Christians for their loss of “rights”. Neither makes any sense.
Welcome to the “new” democracy. You vote, they’ll decide. Anyone surprised? What was said, years ago, still remains true. Liberalism will keep chipping away, very slowly, until one day this nation will wake up to no liberty at all. Many will ignore it, bought off by “entitlements” and conned by a “living, breathing” Constitution. You can’t blame government. It’s natural for any government to seek more power. The Founding Fathers knew that well. It’s when the people become apathic, that the door opens wider and the law no longer applies, having been interpeted in a “new modern” way.
Never been a big fan of the whole “inalienable right” concept. If you think about it dispassionately, my “right” is a privilege extended by society that I take for granted. My “inalienable right” is a privilege granted (or that I think should be granted) by society that I feel really strongly about.
The reality of the situation in California is that the constitution was changed in a legal manner, thus, no matter how inalienable some people feel their “right” to marry someone of the same sex is, it has just been alienated. Suck it up* or move to another state.
*Sorry if that evokes unpleasant imagery.
Cowering and submitting to fascists demonstrates
Only to the fascist making that statement.
To the rest of us it demonstrates
On December 19th, 2008 at 10:32 pm, DavidHughes said:
It’s called Spiritual Warfare.
Indeed.
For those of us old enough to remember he brought us the Brown Fly…
He also put on a REAL cool fireworks and laser light show on Capitol Mall!
It was rumored that it snowed at Capitol soirees…
Jerry Brown has always been, is now and will always be a spineless, die-hard lefty.
I promise you that you, as a heterosexual (I presume you are), also have the right to marry someone of the same sex under any gay marriage law that passes.
What? You say that is an entirely meaningless “right” to you?
Oh…
Huh…
I guess pardon the gay community, then, for not jumping up with joy over their right to marry someone of the opposite sex.
If there is an inalienable right to privacy in California; I presume no search warrants are valid there?
A revolution is necessary, but it will never occur as long as “conservatives” keep whining and trying to change the system “by the rules.” Rules don’t matter to liberals, so we as conservatives need to abandon them as well if we ever want the chance to be free again.
It will never happen.
Privacy right and equal protection? OK then if that’s all and enough to justify Gay marriage then (say) I am off to California to marry my 3 girfriends. I love them and they love me. We are adults and the California constitution says:“all people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights,”. So there you go. So Gavin Newsom will you sanction my marriage to those lovely ladies?
Hey Chap, did you see that?
Brown noted that the California Constitution says that “all people are by NATURE free and independent and have inalienable rights,”
Dear Sir/Madam/Rainbow Jerry Brown,
Dust off your tibetan book of the dead
darlin you need a guided trip back into
reality.
with love,
An American
Family,
how is your prewinter coming along?
“right”
To quote an excellent movie, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
I guess if you don’t like how a word is defined then you jump up with anger until it is changed to suit your whims. It’s all about the whims isn’t it? If it feels good, marry it? No fault divorce when the feelings fade?
It’s not like we need stable mother/father relationships to raise children with drastically lesser probabilities of delinquency, addictions and the like. Kids will be kids, jumping for joy in the ability to do whatever they want and if it’s not yet legal then can jump up in anger and riot and threaten folks until they get it.
And everyone did what was right in their own eyes… that always ends well, right?
I never said one could not support a theory of natural law. I just asked you to explain how it applied to gay marriage and if so, why natural law necessarily takes precedence over positive law.
Finneous,
I was just using the terminology of the poster I quoted.
If you don’t think marriage is a right, fine. But the state also cannot deny privileges to one group arbitrarily.
not a single thing in that paragraph addressed anything I said, nor really made a very good argument. Whims? Heteros can marry on a whim. No fault divorce? Seems to me that heterosexuals probably take advantage of that by about a factor of 100,000 to 1 over gays.
The second they start banning out of wedlock pregnancies or divorces in couples with children, AND you demonstrate that children raised by gays grow up less well adjusted, we can talk about this argument.
More snow to blow this morning.
to paraphrase Einstein:
what if they had a country and nobody came?
There seems to be a perception by the left that they are now in charge of America and can do what they please.
That markets will carry on that consumers will spend etc etc etc.
They spent the last 8 years with a scorched earth ( read America ) mindset.
pssst you got nothing if you don’t have
AMERICANS who respect and honor her.
Thin your own herds, no American is going to step up and save you from yourself.
Fam,
sweeeet, we got rain ::sigh:: snow line
a few short miles from me and 1 degree
off close but no ceegar!!
snow promised for late 2night and the best snow on the planet promised for the 24th
make an angel for me and enjoy,,B
Natural Law is the human condition. Positive law is a stretch of the legal language in an attempt to negate the tyranny of the majority.
tyranny of the gayjority fixed that for ya Fam
allow me to borrow and use some of Chuck Colson’s words if that’s allowed?
Alanb takes Moonbeam’s reasoning to its logical conclusion. Well done.
If the “inalienable” right to “privacy” includes the right of homosexual marriage, then it must also include polygamy; and while we’re at it, all those *ahem* “cultures” that condone/promote adult men “marrying” underage girls – that must be included also.
Old “moonbeam” Jerry is good at evoking Natural Law but uses the perverted Positive law when it’s convenient for his cause. As a Buddhist he should understand the limits to reason.
Poor lost Jerry.
Tyranny = completely throwing out the will of the people.
Sounds about right for the “Land Of Fruits And Nuts”…
this is like demonstrating the sky is blue. its rather OBVIOUS..
that is to anyone with an ounce of common sense…
do you have kids? or a clue?
this just shows how fascist the gays and their allies are. they don’t want the hoi poloi’s vote to count…on theirs and their black-robed thug allies on the judiciary.
some votes are more equal than others…
get another clue there chap, there is no ‘right’ to marry anyone
‘rights’ are intrinsic, not dependent upon others…if marriage was a ‘right’ then you would have the ‘right’ to force someone to marry you,…because it takes 2 (or more in the gay fascist state) to marry…
I voted twice over the years to support traditional marriage in California and both times my side was the majority.
What the politicians have decided is the majority position does not count.
This is how societies break down!
I can’t tell you how pissed off I am.
The tyranny of the courts in the People’s Republic of Kalifornia continues to grow worse and worse. Leave it to good old moonbeam to continue to screw up the state as bad as he did when he was Governor. The will of the people and rule of law mean nothing anymore. It really is time for the 2nd Civil War let the Red states populated with those of us that believe in self reliance and individual responsibility break with the feel good nanny/welfare Blue states.
FamilyMan heard up state was hit pretty hard with 27 inches of snow yesterday. We had about six inches with another inch this morning. It looks like we will both be in for a white Christmas this year. Now to go out and shovel the drive way and walk again!
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE (mo-lone lah-veh) Translation: Come and take them!
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes couldn’t achieve his goal with Natural Law so he decided to massage the language to allow the “tyranny of the minority” to prevail. This country can thank him for bastardizing our Constitution.
Brown and all like him are treading on very dangerous ground. Marriage is NOT man’s law, therefore man has no business changing it like Brown is doing to what he thinks is right. There will be eternal consequences.
Actually, FamilyMan, the Bill of Rights allows the ‘tyranny of the minority’ to prevail. The purpose of the Bill of Rights was to protect people from majoritarian instincts.
I’m not going to rehash my views on gay marriage again here. But I will say that Jerry Brown comes off as a clown here. First, it is his job to represent the laws of the state, even ones he doesn’t like. The AG of a death penalty state may be opposed to capital punishment, but he still has to support its application in his official capacity. Second, if his honest reading of the law is that amendments cannot extinguish fundamental rights, then he should have come out with that during the runup to the election. The fact he didn’t makes me think that he was waiting in the hope the proposition would fail, and thus he would get the result he wanted without having to try to weaken the use of amendments, which is what he is doing now.
Honestly, Prop 8 was validly passed in accordance with CA’s Constitution. I don’t personally like the result, but it should be the law of the land, and I think gay marriage supporters are only hurting their cause by continuing to stamp their feet and fight it.
Hi Boomer’
We had 35 inches out of this last storm and are expecting another foot tomorrow. At least propane prices have come down.
Enjoy your Christmas.
Only with the rights that are stated in the “Bill of Rights”
Fire,
as you should be, that said when thy enemy is hanging themself provide more rope, don’t give them a stool.
Why provide those who have torn down America for the last 8 years a bailout?
Freemarket antiAmericanism if you will
Gary,
agree and well said, it is not our job to prevent. God gave them free will.
To be Clear: Their actions do not take away from what America is or who we are.
Hey Californians!!! You elected the idiot Jerry Brown, as well as your Governator and the Democrat controlled legislature. You are getting the government you deserve!
Every heard of th tyranny of the minority? Here it is.
What really pisses me off about this whole thing is that the peoples will is being ignored AGAIN. How many times does the government get to ignore what the people want before we call it what it is? A facist dictatorship.
lets see they used tax payer money to get the courts to over rule the will of the people , so then the people go out and vote to amend the state constitution and the states attorney general tries to tell the people their amendment is unconstitutional. Im just trying to wrap my head around that but its starting to hurt.
Obviously what I said just went completely over your head because you adding stuff that I didn’t say. Sometimes it’s just better not to respond when you don’t get it.
The laws of reason are being rewritten. I sometimes wonder if liberal minds are a genetic mutation and we conservatives are going off on a separate fork of evolution.
It’s easy to think like a liberal. Just think like a conservative, then take away reason and accountability.
Yes, this is as good as it gets from here on out.
Please, please, please, stop lumping all of us who happen to live in California with all the liberal freaks! There are many of us (especially here in the central valley) who do hold the traditional consevative values.
Yes, it does frustrate me with having Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown as our AG, and some of the other crap we deal with, but unless one of you is ready to let me and my family come live with you, give us a break and don’t assume were all of the liveral bent!
Apologies for the spelling errors, I was a little worked up.
There is plenty of room in Idaho and the houses cost half as much as in California.
GET OUT OF THERE!!!
Family man, thanks for the invite. I was there this past summer visiting my friend Joel; very nice.
from this day forward
gay means happy
fag means cigerette
and the rainbow once again is just the prism of light coming through the moisture in the air
stop trying to co-opt everything for your own selfish wants .
they can keep queer as its the most fitting and accurate