Assoc. Dean Amar Comments on Prop. 8 for Capital Public Radio
Associate Dean Vikram Amar commented on the ongoing court battle over California's Proposition 8 for Insight, a news program of KXJZ Capital Public Radio. Last week, California Attorney General Kamala Harris asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to lift the stay on same-sex marriages it imposed while the case is under review, but Amar said it was probably unlikely the Ninth Circuit would lift the stay.
"There probably is not that much that has changed since last fall when the Ninth Circuit decided to preserve the status quo while it expedited the appeal of the case challenging Prop. 8," he said. The Ninth Circuit is considering an appeal of the federal district court decision that overturned the same-sex marriage ban, Amar explained, and put the stay in place "because if same-sex marriages were allowed to take place and then the Ninth Circuit ended up on the merits reversing the district court and holding that Prop. 8 is perfectly valid, then you have the problem of what to do with all the marriages that were entered into during the interim period."
Although the attorney general has suggested that the Obama administration's recent decision not defend the Defense of Marriage Act makes it more likely that Prop. 8's challengers will prevail, Amar suggested the administration's stance is probably inconsequential in this regard. "Although in general it's good to have the president and the administration agree with you, I'm not sure that really changes the ultimate likelihood of success enough to have the Ninth Circuit revisit the stay question," he said.
Vikram Amar, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law with the UC Davis School of Law, is a national authority in the fields of constitutional law, civil procedure, criminal procedure, and remedies. His biweekly column for FindLaw.com, a leading provider of online legal information, centers on his expertise in constitutional law.