Imperial County just filed a Notice of Appeal of Judge Walker's ruling striking down Prop 8. Here's a copy of its Notice of Appeal.

Imperial County decided to wait until the eve of trial before it filed a request to intervene in the case.  Judge Walker denied the County's request to intervene, finding that the request was not timely and that the County does not have standing.  Here's a detailed discussion of the concept of “standing.”  Judge Walker held:

Imperial County does not have a significant protectible interest in the outcome of plaintiffs' constitutional challenge to Proposition 8. Moreover, even if Imperial County did have an interest in the subject matter of this litigation, state law provides adequate procedures for Imperial County to protect that interest, and, in addition, the current state defendants adequately represent Imperial County's interest as a matter of law. Accordingly, Imperial County is not entitled to intervene. . . 

* * *

Imperial County's status as a local government  does not provide it with an interest in the constitutionality of Proposition 8 or standing to defend Proposition 8 on appeal. Accordingly, Imperial County's motion to intervene as a defendant in this action . . . is DENIED.

It's not all that surprising that Imperial County filed a Notice of Appeal.  It is asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal to decide for itself whether or not the County has standing to appeal.  As I discussed earlier, there's a decent chance that Judge Walker and the Ninth Circuit will find that the official proponents of Prop 8 do not have standing to appeal Judge Walker's decision.  While the arguments are different, I also think it's unlikely that Imperial County has standing.  But from the anti-equality perspective, it gives them one more argument to make before the Ninth Circuit, so it's important to them.

This is a minor development.  Stay tuned for the more significant ruling on the pending motion to stay, which hopefully will come out today. . .