Challenge to Proposition 8 Filed in Federal Court

The Advocate reports conservative legal hitman Ted Olson has filed a federal challenge to Proposition 8.

"Two attorneys who argued opposing sides of the 2000 Bush v. Gore lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court have filed a challenge to Proposition 8 in federal court. Theodore B. Olson, the U.S. solicitor general from 2001 to 2004 under President George W. Bush, and David Boies, a high-profile trial lawyer who argued on behalf of former vice president Al Gore, filed the suit May 22 in U.S. district court on behalf of two California gay couples. The attorneys argue that relegating same-sex couples to domestic partnerships instead of granting them full marriage rights is a violation of the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."

It's absolutely encouraging that a federal challenge to Proposition 8 has been filed. But it's also more than a little disturbing that a conservative apparatchik is running the legal strategy and we don't know who is paying the bills. I'm just sayin' ...

Comments

[Mark Andrew]

Why would the Establishment want a demographic group that has plenty of wealth, is sexually liberated, with no children to raise, with an outsider status, with strong community spirit, with a very personal relationship to the Creator (who "made" them "that way"), and strident voices calling for justice and beauty, and who "come from every tribe and language and people and nation" -- why would the establishment want them to settle down and raise kids with a house and a mortgage and a picket fence and a yard and a dog and a car?

[Antwan]

is this the same ted olson that represented the bush administration before the supreme court? i'm very suspicious. hopeful but suspicious all the same.

[Danny Rivera]

Blech. Ted Olson is a right wing hack. I wouldn't be surprised if the conservatives want this case to go quickly to the Supremes because they know the federal courts are still mostly Bush appointments.

[Dark Sun]

Alright....you get another chance to fight like hell!!! START NOW!!!!!

[Luther]

Danny, you speak the truth, its just another right wing ploy.

[soulbrotha]

I will reserve judgment until I see what happens with this. It is very suspicious though.

[Jim]

To all of you skeptics: Mr. Olson is a good Christian man (aka Republican). There is no way a follower of Jesus would deliberately misrepresent himself and engage in a dishonest effort to damage our lives.

[Lukas]

There is no way a follower of Jesus would deliberately misrepresent himself and engage in a dishonest effort to damage our lives.

Oh, of course not, LMAO. Being a follower of Jesus, Bush didn't misrepresent himself or engage in a dishonest effort to start a war in the middle east either.

On the other hand, "damage" depends on your definition. What some term "saving from eternal damnation" might be termed "psychological damage" to others. What some would call "corrective therapy" might be called "mental and physical torture" by others.

[BGC]

I say go for it.

Will the court rule against us? Yeah, probably. Will they be right? No. Loving makes it clear that marriage is a fundamental right, and Lawrence points out that our relationships are our business, not the governments. The 14th amendment clearly says we get the same treatment under the law. These guys are right, and even if they lose, they should go forward with it. We'll get our rights however we have to, but this is a righteous attempt to make the highest authorities on the law in the land to uphold the law, instead of playing politics.

Of course, the phrase "lawyers who argued Bush v. Gore" doesn't exactly elicit confidence in the Supreme Court.