The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on March 4th in the marriage cases challenging the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage. Fifteen same-sex couples, Equality California, and Our Family Coalition will be represented at oral arguments by Shannon Price Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which is serving as co-counsel with Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, Heller Ehrman LLP, and the Law Office of David C. Codell. The California Supreme Court typically issues its decisions within 90 days following oral arguments.

The marriage cases were filed in March of 2004. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard A. Kramer ruled that the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage violates the California Constitution. In a 2-1 vote, the California Court of Appeal reversed Judge Kramer's ruling. Shortly after the Court of Appeal's decision, the California Supreme Court granted review of the cases in order to consider the constitutional questions itself. Governor Schwarzenegger highlighted that the California Supreme Court should decide the constitutional questions posed by the marriage statutes when he vetoed two measures passed by the California Legislature in 2005 and 2007 that would have permitted same-sex couples to marry.

This year is the 60th anniversary of the California Supreme Court's historic 1948 ruling that found it unconstitutional for the state to restrict access to marriage based on the race of the spouses. The California NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc., and Howard Law School Civil Rights Clinic have urged the court to apply the reasoning from its 1948 decision to the present marriage cases.

National Center for Lesbian Rights | Equality California | ACLU of Northern California | Lambda Legal