Senior Associate Dean Amar Interviewed by NPR on Anti-Gay Ballot Proposal
Vikram Amar, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law, commented for National Public Radio's All Things Considered on a California ballot proposal that would require the killing of gays and lesbians. It was Amar's second interview on the subject with host Robert Siegel.
Amar explained the initiative process, noting that Californians have not entrusted elected officials such as Attorney General Kamala Harris to make decisions about the legality or constitutionality of voter initiatives, preferring to leave that responsibility to judges. Harris cannot block the blatantly illegal and unconstitutional proposal herself, but she is "seeking a judge's permission to kind of terminate the madness now," Amar said.
The situation is "very uncommon because initiatives that are this blatantly beyond the pale are also uncommon," Amar said. "My guess is that judges would bend over backwards not to block the initiative process for anything that might be illegal. But for something like this that is so obviously violative of the state and federal constitutions, I think a judge should be receptive to the attorney general's request."
Though some have proposed raising the filing fee as a means of discouraging frivolous or illegal proposals, Amar said that such a move could be seen as discouraging more legitimate grass roots political activity.
Vikram Amar, Senior 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 Justia.com, a leading provider of online legal information, centers on his expertise in constitutional law.