Will Prop. 8 be retroactive? Opinions differ
Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 8/7/2008 10:10:00 AM
Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle that he expects California courts to order that marriages of same-sex couples performed between the May 15 court-ordered legalization of such unions and the November 4 election to continue to be recognized, even if the marriage protection amendment passes. Attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, admits that is a possibility -- but he says it is one Brown has no business raising in his official capacity.
"...Jerry Brown is way out of line to make that pronouncement that Proposition 8 is not going to apply to homosexual couples who've already been 'married' in California prior to its passage," Dacus asserts.
In fact, says the attorney, Brown's comments are a "clear breach of his public trust" as attorney general. "It's the duty and responsibility of the attorney general to defend the law, to defend the amendments to the constitution, to defend the constitution of this state," he points out. "And for him to prematurely come out and already start to dissolve its strength is very inappropriate."
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Results from our related poll
If California's Prop. 8 passes in November, should all
homosexual 'marriages' recognized by the state since mid-June
-- when licenses were first issued -- be nullified?
Brown has no way of knowing how the courts would rule on the "marriages" created by the California Supreme Court prior to the amendment's potential passage, says the Christian attorney.
"It is clearly far too early...for the attorney general or for anyone to be pronouncing how the courts will be interpreting the amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman as applied to people who have already been married under that and are homosexuals," states Dacus.
According to Dacus, it is still very much "up in the air" how passage of Prop. 8 might affect homosexual couples who were married during the almost five-month period it was legal to do so in the Golden State. "[I]f Proposition 8 passes, we'll have to litigate that in the courts -- and who knows where it could go," he states.
The proposed amendment states: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
