Another federal lawsuit has been filed against California's voter-approved Proposition 8, claiming there's a constitutional right to same-gender "marriage."
George W. Bush's former solicitor general, Ted Olson, has filed the lawsuit, which claims Prop. 8 -- approved by 52 percent of voters in November 2008 -- violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. "Creating a second class of citizens is discrimination plain and simple," Olson stated at a May 27 press conference. "Proposition 8 denies people fundamental constitutional rights." Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel says Olson's involvement in the lawsuit absolutely disgusts him. In his White House role, Olson argued cases on behalf of the United States before the Supreme Court. "In fact he was someone that George Bush had potentially considered as a U.S. Supreme Court justice," Staver adds. "I was never fully in favor of that opinion, and fortunately we never had to come to that point in time. Obviously what we now see is that he's gone off the deep end." According to Staver, Olson's position in the lawsuit is the complete opposite of what he stood for in the Bush administration. The lawsuit should be taken seriously, says the Liberty Counsel founder. "Because of the fact that the attorney general of that state, Jerry Brown, has essentially conceded in his view that there is a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage," he explains. "So the state's not going to defend it -- and if the state's not going to defend it, then who will?" Olson is a member of the Federalist Society, an organization of attorneys who promote an "originalist" interpretation of the Constitution. In an interview with CNSNews.com, Liberty Counsel's Matt Krause implies that Olson's reputation as "somebody who stays true to the text of the Constitution and seems to be right on a lot of these issues" adds to conservatives' concern about the lawsuit. Liberty Counsel has fought for Proposition 8, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, for five years, and will fight against the latest effort to overturn the people's vote. The lawsuit will be heard before the California District Court on July 2.
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