Patrick Swayze is still alive and the California Supreme Court will not decide Prop 8 tomorrow. Just another Twitter rumor gone awry. The Court confirmed today that no opinion will be filed tomorrow.
The internets have been abuzz with supposedly confirmed rumors that the Court told various police departments that the opinion would be announced tomorrow. I think what added fuel to these rumors was that San Francisco police are preparing for the 30th anniversary of the White Night Riots, the riots that happened after the jury found Harvey Milk's assassin guilty of only manslaughter, not first-degree murder. People mistakenly assumed that the delivery of barricades to the Castro is related to prop 8.
We might hear on Friday that an opinion will be filed Tuesday. The only other options are for filing next Thursday or on Monday, June 1st. My prediction is that the opinion comes out next Thursday, May 28th and it overturns Prop 8.
You’re predicting it’s overturned? Any particular reasons? I’d love it if it was, but it seems kind unlikely…
I could imagine the Court saying, OK, no marriage for teh gays, but we still can’t violate equal protection, AND we have already ruled that the name “marriage” is a key part of this fundamental right and that sexual orientation is a suspect classification, so legislators, fix this so that every couple in the state gets the identical recognition with an identically named license.
That would almost be sweeter, since it would turn the fundies’ argument on its head (“OK, you want the word ‘marriage’, keep it in your churches, but no hetero couples are getting state-issued marriage licenses anymore either. HA ha!”) and give the Congress a huge reason to repeal DOMA ASAP.
1. I’m betting on 5-2 upholding Prop 8 but 5-2 (with 3 overlapping) upholding the existing marriages. The 2 always voting for Marriage Equality will be Moreno and Werdegar, the three splitting will be Corrigan, Kennard, and George, and the two always voting for only Opposite Marriage will be Chin and Baxter.
2. Nobody will be gathering signatures for a recall. George and Moreno are up for retention votes in November 2010, and if they both vote to overturn Prop 8, they will be challenged.