Federal Judge Declines To Place Permanent Hold on Decision Striking Prop. 8

U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker refused to indefinitely stay his recent decision that invalidated California's Proposition 8, finding that supporters of the anti-gay marriage measure failed to "adequately explain the basis for their belief that marriages performed absent a stay would suffer from a ‘cloud of uncertainty.'"

On Aug. 3, Judge Walker ruled, "Proposition 8 cannot survive any legal scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. Excluding same-sex marriage couples from marriage is simply not rationally related to a legitimate state interest."

Supporters of Proposition 8 urged Judge Walker to indefinitely stay his decision during the appeals process, while opponents of the anti-gay marriage measure, including the California governor and attorney general, urged Walker to lift the stay on his ruling to allow same-sex couples to wed.

Although Walker refused to permanently stay his initial ruling, he did delay lifting the stay until Aug. 18, permitting supporters of Proposition 8 to appeal his decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. TPM reported that Walker's action gives the Ninth Circuit "time to decide whether to issue its own stay."

In his Aug. 12 order in Perry v. Schwarzenegger Walker expressed doubts as to whether Proposition 8 supporter have standing to appeal his decision. "Proponents chose not to brief the standing issue in connection with their motion to stay, and nothing in the record shows proponents face the kind of injury required for Article 111 standing," Walker wrote.