NOW Submits Amici Curiae Brief in Lawsuit to Invalidate Proposition 8

January 16, 2009

The National Organization for Women, California NOW and the Feminist Majority yesterday submitted a joint amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court of California in support of the plaintiffs' challenge to the validity of the Proposition 8 ballot measure.

That measure was narrowly passed by California voters in November, overturning the right of same-sex couples to marry -- a right that the California Supreme Court had previously declared to be a fundamental right under the state constitution. NOW's friend of the court brief urges the Supreme Court to rule that fundamental rights already protected by the California constitution, such as the right to marry, cannot be taken away by popular vote.

In our application to be accepted as amici curiae (friends of the court), we demonstrated that women are profoundly affected by Prop. 8 because women make up two-thirds of legally recognized same-sex couples, and nearly two-thirds of the same-sex marriages in Massachusetts and civil unions in Vermont, and we also argued that upholding Proposition 8 would set a dangerous precedent that would leave no fundamental right -- including the right to equal protection and the right to privacy on which many women's rights hinge -- safe from the whims of a bare majority.

"We will be watching the California Supreme Court and encourage our activists to keep the issue of overturning Prop 8 on their agenda and to continue taking action across the country," said NOW President Kim Gandy.