In a long-awaited decision on the question of gay marriage in California, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday found the state’s Proposition 8 ballot initiative unconstitutional. And Andy Pugno, general counsel for the pro-Prop 8 coalition ProtectMarriage.com, had an unequivocal view of his organization’s next steps: “Our path to the U.S. Supreme Court is now very clear.”
Pugno serves as GC for the group that authored Proposition 8 and has defended the ballot initiative since voters approved it in 2008. He released a statement following the court’s decision, setting that stage for an appeal to the Supreme Court: “Ever since the beginning of this case, we’ve known that the battle to preserve traditional marriage will ultimately be won or lost not here, but rather in the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said. “We will immediately appeal this misguided decision that disregards the will of more than 7 million Californians who voted to restore marriage as the unique union of only a man and woman.”
He noted that Tuesday’s decision was split 2-1 on the panel, and that while the judges had ruled Prop 8 unconsitutional, they had re-affirmed “that we have legal standing as representatives of the voters to assert California’s interests in the validity of Prop 8.”
