Prop. 8 Backers Beg California Supreme Court to Deny Wedding Licenses

In its latest effort to prevent same-sex marriage in California, ProtectMarriage has asked the state's Supreme Court to deny wedding licenses.

The group that defended California's Proposition 8 at the Supreme Court requested on Friday that the state’s Supreme Court prevent court clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the organization, ProtectMarriage, contends that Gov. Jerry Brown lacks the authority to overturn Proposition 8.

ProtectMarriage, which initially sponsored the 2008 measure banning same-sex marriage and stepped in to defend the initiative when two sets of state governors and attorney generals refused to do so, submitted a 50-page challenge “concerning the rule of law and limitations on public officials’ authority,” according to the Times. However, legal experts expect that the challenge will be rejected.

“The California Supreme Court will likely stay out of this and say the scope of Judge Walker’s order is a matter for the federal courts to determine,” University of California Davis law professor Vikram Amar told the Times. “State courts generally won’t get into the business of construing federal court orders. They leave that to the federal courts.”

The challenge follows a previous emergency petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that Protect Marriage had no legal "standing" to defend Prop. 8 in court in a historic 5-4 decision on June 26. Justice Kennedy, who did not vote with the majority, rejected the emergency petition.