The California State Supreme Court will hear arguments in San Francisco today on the validity of Proposition 8, the November ballot initiative that banned same sex marriage.As they weigh the arguments and make their decision (which is due within 90 days), the justices of the court would do well to remember 1964's Proposition 14, a ballot initiative that amended the state constitution to allow landlords the right to reject rental applications based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, marital status, and physical handicap.
It passed that year with an astounding 65% of the vote.
But the State Supreme Court, and later the United States Supreme Court, ruled that Prop 14 violated the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution:
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.I'm not holding my breath, but if a majority of the current court has half a brain, they'd apply the same thinking to the Prop 8 case being argued before them today.
