
California Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office originally argued to uphold the state’s one man-one woman marriage laws, submitted its own brief Thursday urging the Supreme Court not to grant the stay.
“The Court has declared the law governing the right of same-sex couples to marry, and the Attorney General undertakes to give effect to that declaration with no less vigor than he previously sought to give effect to the statutes in dispute,” Brown’s brief states. “It is time for these proceedings to end.”
The Supreme Court has until the close of business on June 16 to decide on the stay request, but it also could give itself a 60-day extension to consider the matter. The California Office of Vital Records informed local officials this week they can start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on June 17, barring further instructions from the court.
“The court’s decision firmly establishes there is a fundamental right to marriage equality for same-sex couples under the California Constitution,” said San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, whose office joined two dozen same-sex couples in bringing the lawsuit that led to the court’s 4-3 decision. “To deny that fundamental right based on speculation about what might happen in November is terribly inappropriate.”
The California ruling is considered monumental because of the state’s population — 38 million out of a U.S. population of 302 million —
and its historical role as the vanguard of many social and cultural changes that have swept the country since World War II.
California has an estimated 108,734 same-sex households, according to 2006 census figures.







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