SAN FRANCISCO — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to deny an appeal of February's ruling against Proposition 8 paves the way for a U.S. Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage by next year.
The decision means the Supreme Court is likely to have two major gay-rights cases on its docket in the near future. Another federal appeals court last week struck down a federal law that denied federal recognition to same-sex marriage.
Backers of Proposition 8 said they would ask the Supreme Court to review the 9th Circuit ruling.
Proposition 8, passed by California voters in November 2008, reinstated a ban on same-sex nuptials six months after the state Supreme Court had struck it down on state constitutional grounds. The ballot measure amended the state constitution. Two same-sex couples then sued in federal court, contending that Proposition 8 violated the U.S. Constitution.
A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 in February that the ban violated federal constitutional guarantees but limited the effect of the ruling to California. Sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the 9th Circuit to assemble an 11-judge panel to rehear the case.
A majority of the circuit's active judges voted against such reconsideration.
On Tuesday, Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, joined by two other jurists, wrote in a dissent that President Barack Obama, in declaring his personal support for same-sex marriage, said it was a matter for states to decide.
"We have overruled the will of 7 million California Proposition 8 voters," O'Scannlain wrote. "We should not have so roundly trumped California's democratic process without at least discussing this unparalleled decision as an en banc court."
Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Michael Daly Hawkins, who voted in February to overturn Proposition 8, responded in a concurring opinion that their ruling was narrow.
"We held only that under the particular circumstances relating to California's Proposition 8, that measure was invalid. In line with the rules governing judicial resolution of constitutional issues, we did not resolve the fundamental question that both sides asked us to: whether the Constitution prohibits the states from banning same-sex marriage.
"That question may be decided in the near future, but if so, it should be in some other case, at some other time."
Online: An interactive map detailing gay marriage laws in the U.S. denverpost.com/extras
Source: www.denverpost.com
California voters OK changes to term limits for state legislators - Los Angeles Times
Californians approved a change to term limits for state lawmakers, but a measure to raise tobacco taxes for the first time in nearly two decades was in trouble, voting returns showed late Tuesday.
In Southern California contests, the nonpartisan race for Los Angeles County district attorney was locked in a three-way contest among Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Jackson and L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich. Lacey, who was leading the pack, would become the first African American or female D.A. in county history if elected in a November runoff to replace the retiring Steve Cooley.
Three incumbent Los Angeles County supervisors — Mark Ridley-Thomas, Don Knabe and Michael D. Antonovich — appeared to be breezing to new four-year terms, with only Antonovich facing a challenger.
With both Democratic President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney already having sewn up their party's nominations, California's presidential primary was anti-climactic, deflating voter enthusiasm and turnout at the polls.
Those who cast ballots made state history, however, with the first test of California's newly drawn political districts and the first comprehensive use of the top-two primary — which in races for the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and state Legislature sends the two candidates who collect the most votes to the November election, regardless of party affiliation.
Both changes were tailored to favor candidates with at least somewhat wide appeal, including those not hitched to any political party, and mute the hyper-partisan rancor consuming Washington and Sacramento. Among the offspring of these changes were some political oddities.
San Fernando Valley Democratic Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, both shifted into the same district, were on pace to collect enough votes Tuesday to continue their intraparty grudge match through the November general election — sans a Republican challenger — and a party-backed Democrat was battling to survive until this fall's race for a Ventura County congressional seat that tilts slightly to the left.
"Candidates of both parties are being forced to talk to a much wider range of voters than ever before, instead of relying on the ideological bases of their parties, to get to the general election," said Dan Schnur, director of USC's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. "We're going to see a greater number of competitive elections, and that'll lead to the election of more responsive candidates."
Bucking that trend was U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who finished far ahead of a pack of 23 mostly unknown, scantily funded challengers in her bid for a fourth full term. Danville autism activist Elizabeth Emken, endorsed by the state Republican leadership, collected enough votes to face the popular, well funded Feinstein in November — a task so daunting that the Senate race failed to attract even an adventurous GOP middleweight.
Many races remained too close to call as votes were being counted late Tuesday, especially in contests with crowded fields and candidates separated by mere percentage points. Low turnout only added to the volatility.
Katrina Eagilen, a dentist who was in charge of a precinct at the base of Mt. Washington on Tuesday morning, shook her head in dismay at the paucity of voters.
"I'm a little bit disappointed," she said, gesturing at the empty voting booths and the quiet room. "Something so important, we should have the place crowded."
Tobacco companies poured nearly $47 million into their campaign to defeat Proposition 29, a tax designed to raise an estimated $860 million a year for research on tobacco-related diseases and prevention programs.
The American Cancer Society and other proponents predicted that the increase in cigarette prices would stop 220,000 kids from starting to smoke and encourage 100,000 current smokers to quit. They raised more than $11 million, including $500,000 from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and $1.5 million from cycling champ Lance Armstrong's Livestrong Foundation.
Backed by the tobacco money, a coalition of anti-tax and business organizations mounted an aggressive campaign against the initiative, including a flood of television commercials and campaign mailers. The proposition, they argued, would create an unaccountable bureaucracy and allow the tax dollars to be siphoned out of California.
Voters were less conflicted about Proposition 28, which would limit lawmakers to 12 years in the Legislature, but allow them to serve the entire stretch in the Assembly or Senate. In 1990, Californians limited lawmakers to three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year stints in the Senate, for a total of 14 years in Sacramento.
The League of Women Voters of California and other supporters of the proposition said lawmakers spend too much time raising funds for the leap from one legislative house to the other and need to be allowed more time in one office to master complex issues and the lawmaking process.
Opponents, including term limits activist and former game show host Chuck Woolery, said the initiative was deceptively pitched as a toughening of term limits when, in fact, legislators could camp longer in one seat.
Holding onto one of California's 53 congressional seats also proved to be tougher than at any other time in a decade, thanks to political boundaries drawn by a panel of citizens instead of politicians or the courts. Longtime incumbents found themselves vying for votes in unfamiliar territory or in districts merged with those of other House members.
Redistricting squeezed Republican Rep. Gary Miller of Diamond Bar out of his old seat, setting up a fierce GOP clash between him and state Sen. Bob Dutton of Rancho Cucamonga for a district in San Bernardino County. In early returns, both Miller and Dutton were leading Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, a Democrat, in the race to clinch the top two spots.
Source: www.latimes.com
California voters mixed about new top-two primary - Sacramento Bee
Matt Hoffman of Folsom did not notice Tuesday that California had launched its top-two primary system, allowing voters for the first time to cast ballots for candidates of any party.
Mike Wilber of Elk Grove said, "I thought it was in effect last year, honestly."
Rudi Elmensdorp assumed the new system had not been implemented after he looked at the presidential candidates on his Democratic ballot.
"It just had (Barack) Obama or a write-in," Elmensdorp said.
The trio managed to fill out their ballots without much ado, however. Officials of the secretary of state's office and six Sacramento-area polling places said voters did not complain or express confusion Tuesday about the top-two approach.
Touted by supporters as a way to discourage extremism by the Democratic or Republican parties, the new system puts the two highest vote-getters in any legislative or congressional primary, regardless of party, in the general election race in November.
The impact was not immediately clear in early returns. Only a handful of no-party-preference candidates appeared to advance, while as many as 25 of the 153 congressional and state legislative districts could see two candidates of the same party in the November general election.
Balloting in the presidential primary, which is not affected by the state change, continued Tuesday much as it had in years past. Voters chose from among contenders to carry their party's banner in the fall.
It was clear as voters cast ballots Tuesday that California will be represented by many new faces: Eleven congressional, nine state Senate and 35 Assembly races featured open seats without an incumbent running.
Voters created the top-two system by passing Proposition 14 in 2010, pushed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as a way to ease legislative gridlock.
Schwarzenegger saw the top-two primary and the drawing of new political districts by an independent citizens commission as a one-two punch to invigorate a stale status quo in which few moderates won election, few seats switched party hands and legislative public approval ratings were dismal.
The new system also gives more clout to no-party-preference voters, whose ranks have jumped from 10.7 percent of California's electorate in 1996 to 21.3 percent today.
Republican Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria, as a state senator, forced the top-two primary onto the 2010 ballot by making it one of several demands to Democratic legislative leaders in return for his pivotal vote to end an 81-day budget impasse in 2009.
Maldonado, who Tuesday secured a place in the November election for Congress, said this week that the new primary system "hopefully will move the state in the right direction of electing officials who are reasonable, open minded and pragmatic – and change their behavior a little bit as they cast votes at the Capitol."
Schwarzenegger, in a prepared statement, said the combined goal of the top-two primary and independent redistricting was to "take the power from the politicians and give it back to the people so they could elect politicians who represented them instead of the parties and special interests."
Opponents say the changes could backfire by discouraging participation in districts where voters are left without legislative or congressional candidates from their party on the November general election ballot.
"I think, at the end of the day, this has been the most oversold, hyped election that will produce the same results as before these so-called reforms," said Democratic strategist Steve Maviglio. "It's not attracting any more independent (voters). The only thing it's done is forced a lot more campaign spending."
Campaign spending by independent groups to affect legislative races has soared – from more than $7 million in the 2010 primary to more than $12 million this year, state records show.
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Source: www.sacbee.com
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