Proposition 8 is upheld

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — In a victory for California voters, the California Supreme Court has upheld Proposition 8, approved by ballot in November. The May 26 court ruling, posted just minutes ago, means that the state constitution legally restricts marriage as between only one man and one woman.

At the same time, however, the court also upheld the same-sex marriages conducted during a brief legal window from last June to Election Day. That window was opened last spring when the same court ruled that Proposition 22—a 2000 voter-approved initiative that changed state law to protect traditional marriage—was unconstitutional.

Three separate challenges to the amendment were heard during a March hearing in San Francisco. Even before the high court ruling, however, gay rights leaders said that if their legal challenge was thwarted by the justices, they would try to override the constitutional amendment at the ballot box as early as 2010.

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