U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on Wednesday that part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has been struck down and the appeal for California's Proposition 8 was dismissed. As the gay-marriage advocates celebrate, proponents of Prop 8 said that as of today California's Prop 8 still stands as the legal law of the state.
Austin Nimocks, cocounsel of Prop 8, said in an interview on CNN that the California state initiative representing the voices of over seven million Californians still stands despite Supreme Court's ruling on Wednesday. In order to strike down a state initiative, there has to be an appellate court ruling according to California state law. A single federal judge cannot declare a state initiative in California unconstitutional state-wide. The rulings only apply to four people who brought the case before the court, because it is not a class action lawsuit.
"The Supreme Court did not strike down Prop 8. All they said was that we didn't have standing to defend it, and they vacated the Ninth Circuit's decision, so there is no appellate court decision on that," said Nimocks.
Nimocks, who was present before the Supreme Court, said that he "fully expects" the government of California to honor the laws of California to restrict marriage only for heterosexual couples.
"There are over seven million Californians that enacted Proposition 8, did so in the second time in a nine year period. Those voices deserved their respect. Their voices are still standing and is the law of the state of California. We don’t just ignore constitutions because we don’t like the way they read. The law of California is very clear, because the Supreme Court didn’t impose same-sex marriage as a fundamental right in this country or California or any other state for that matter. Californians have the rights just like the citizens of any other states in the country still." Nimocks said.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer commented that while other legal experts will disagree on the nature of this decision by the Supreme Court, but will see within the next months or two if gay couples will be allowed, "practically-speaking," to get married or not.
