Expert: Lawyers 'all over the place' on constitutionality of Prop. 8 David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Thursday November 6, 2008





Print This Email This Protests, rallies and three separate legal challenges are currently under way in response to the passage in California of "Proposition 8," which outlaws same-sex marriage.



According to CNN's Kiran Chetry, it seems as though no matter what the outcome of the challenges, the 18,000 existing same-sex marriages will remain intact, because "California's attorney general says that the constitutional amendment is not retroactive."



However, CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin told Chetry, "The law is really unclear here. ... Everyone is all over the place. Some [lawyers] said, 'When you look at the language of Proposition 8, it is very clear that it was meant to be retroactive.' ... Another law professor that I spoke to said, 'That is absolutely, fundamentally ridiculous. The bottom line is this is a fundamental right that was given to couples, and this is a right that is not going to be given away.'"



"I think that we're going to see a lot of litigation here," Hostin concluded. "Everyone is in a legal limbo." She suggested that the California Supreme Court, which "allowed these marriages in the first place," will weigh in but that the constitutionality of Proposition 8 may ultimately have to be decided by the US Supreme Court.





This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast November 6, 2008.









Download video via RawReplay.com







