Supreme Court Perverts Power of Initiative Process

by Paul Hogarth via Beyond Chron

Tue, May 26, 2009 5:30PM

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 : In 1964, Stanley Kubrick produced the Cold War film Dr. Strangelove, or “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” By upholding Proposition 8, the California Supreme Court has learned to stop worrying and love the initiative process. It’s an apt analogy, because today’s decision leaves an unchecked power of the voters to strike a “bomb” through our basic Constitutional protections.

Not only did the Court minimize Prop 8’s effect on the right to marry, using logic that contradicted last year’s decision on the same subject. It set up a dubious distinction between “amendments” and “revisions” to the state Constitution, which will allow virtually any ballot measure to pass as a mere “amendment.” Without adequate safeguards that a “revision” was meant to place, equal protection is no longer sacred – because the power of the ballot is supreme. At the same time, the Court ruled that the 18,000 same-sex couples who legally wed last year are still married – because to invalidate these licenses would be an undue violation of due process and property rights. While that was a wise decision, it remains a mystery why such a right is more important than equal protection.

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For more information: http://www.beyondchron.org/index.php?itemi...

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§unchecked power of the voters

by Checkm8

Tue, May 26, 2009 9:37PM

Unchecked power of the voters is a very serious problem, especially in California. That is exactly how all the worst laws get passed, by either Democrats or Republicans. So why dont we hear about "unchecked power of the voters" here when the cause is a liberal-leaning one?

The Republicans dont have much value, but Ill give them credit for one thing, that they keep Democrats somewhat under control (and vice versa!)

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§Our Job: Moving 700,000 votes to our side & Teaching Lawyers Discrimination is Illegal

by $

Wed, May 27, 2009 5:17AM

These lawyers who sit on the Supreme Court should be impeached and disbarred as they just put discrimination into our State Constitution. Every lawyer in this state should be ashamed and outraged at the hateful actions of the 6 lawyers sitting on the California Supreme Court who supported the reactionary majority.

Meanwhile, we have a campaign to run for November 2010 to repeal Prop 8. Looking at the Secretary of State's initiative listings in circulation at
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm#circ
we can see that there are 2 initiatives that address this issue: 1356 which replaces the term marriage with domestic partnership and 1357 which repeals Prop 8 of Nov 2008 and repeals Prop 22 of March 2000, both of which perpetrate the discrimination by defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Both are worth supporting.

WE NEED TO WALK OR MAIL TO EVERY PRECINCT THAT VOTED AT LEAST 40% NO ON 8. Right here in San Francisco, which led the state with 75.2% No on 8, 92,536 people voted for Prop 8. Since 52,292 people voted for Republican McCain for President, that means some 40,000 people were not reached by the No on 8 campaign. THEY MUST BE REACHED TO REPEAL PROP 8 IN NOVEMBER 2010.

Looking at the map at
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/11/13/MNIQ144185.DTL&o=1
we can see that large areas of the Sunset and Richmond districts, heavy voting areas, voted just 50-60% No. Most of the City voted 70-80% No. A LOT MORE CAMPAIGNING NEEDS TO BE DONE RIGHT HERE IN SAN FRANCISCO. WE SHOULD HAVE 90% FOR GAY MARRIAGE. After all, the Republican Party only gets 13% of the vote here and there are gay Republicans, so 90% for gay marriage is feasible. WE MUST TEACH PEOPLE THAT AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL and that if discrimination is legal against one group, all non-whites and women are next. This is a fascist agenda; it is not just about gay marriage.

The votes, of course, are in Southern California. WE MUST HAVE LOS ANGELES COUNTY TO WIN GAY MARRIAGE, and we did not, as we only had 49.9% of the vote in Los Angeles County. That is 1,622.287 votes.

As soon as gay marriage is on the ballot in 2010, the campaign must start the precinct walks in all 58 counties of this state. We want a resounding victory for gay marriage in November 2010 so that the idiot reactionary lawyers sitting in the Supreme Court get the message loudly and clearly: Discrimination is illegal.

For more information: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_...

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