AG: Prop 8 Backers Can't Defend Marriage Ban
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California Attorney General Kamala Harris is signaling that she is just as strong a supporter of same-sex marriage as her predecessor in the office, Gov. Jerry Brown.
Harris submitted a brief to the California Supreme Court on Monday arguing that state law does not give the proponents of successful ballot initiatives the right to defend the measures in court.
The question is critical in the legal fight over California's ban on same-sex marriages, known as Proposition 8.
Brown and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to defend the voter-approved ban on appeal after a federal judge struck it down last summer.
Proposition 8's sponsors have asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow them to step in, but the appeals court punted the issue to the California Supreme Court.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
