The California Supreme Court today appeared inclined to uphold Proposition 8, but showed obvious reluctance to void thousands of same-sex marriages already in place when voters restored a ban on gay marriage last fall.Kind of what I expected.
The underlying problem here is the ease with which voters in California can amend the state constitution. It takes a simple majority (50% +1) to make a change, the result being well over 500 amendments to the document.
By contrast, it takes a 2/3 vote of both houses of congress plus 3/4 of the state legislatures to amend the United States Constitution. Because of that high hurdle, it has only been amended 27 times.
500.
27.
If the judges rule as I think, it will be because they feel they don't have the power to overrule the voters on the issue of a constitutional amendment (last year's ruling that allowed marriage was made regarding an initiative...there's a difference).
If the Supremes rule against marriage, then two things will need to happen:
1. We wait a couple of election cycles and put a repeal amendment on the ballot in 2012. But we don't spend that time resting on our laurels. Instead, we set out to change minds. We lost Prop 8 by a very small margin last November. Another four years and we should be able to reverse that result. Time is on our side, so long as we don't waste it.
2. At some point a constitutional convention is going to need to take place. Amending the constitution should not be something that can be done so easily. It is dangerous, it ties the hands of judges, and it's un-American.
