Aug 8, 2008 12:05 pm US/Pacific
Judge Upholds Summary Of Calif. Gay Marriage Ban
SACRAMENTO (AP) ―
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Same-sex couple Paul Festa and James Harker hold their marriage license after they were married at San Francisco City Hall on June 17.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A Sacramento judge on Friday said state officials do not have to rewrite the ballot summary describing Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban voters will consider in November.
The ruling is a setback for the initiative's supporters, who say the title and summary written by Attorney General Jerry Brown are argumentative and could prejudice voters. They said Brown should have written a more neutral statement.
Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley disagreed. In his 8-page ruling, the judge said the title and summary is an "accurate statement" of the proposition by saying it would eliminate the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry.
"The court is not willing to fashion a rule that would require the Attorney General to engage in useless nominalization," Frawley wrote.
Brown is required to write a brief title and summary spelling out to voters the details of measures intended for the California ballot.
Last November, he wrote a title and summary for the initiative that later became Proposition 8. That wording said the initiative would impose a "limit on marriage" by amending the state Constitution "to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."
Brown's description was included on the signature petitions gay marriage opponents circulated to get the issue on the ballot.
Brown wrote a new title and summary after the measure qualified. He said he did so to reflect the state Supreme Court ruling in May that overturned California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.
The new summary says the proposition would "eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry."
Brown responded to Friday's decision by saying the court properly dismissed a lawsuit that "was more about politics than the law."
The initiative's supporters said they would appeal. They say Brown's descriptions contrasted with the attorney general's routine practice of selecting ballot titles that state the subject matter of an initiative in a neutral way.
"Election ballot titles should be neutral and not intentionally prejudice voters," Joseph Infranco, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said in a statement. "The ballot title is argumentative and not impartial."
Supporters of Proposition 8 also had asked Frawley to order state officials to modify arguments against the measure that will appear in voter pamphlets, including one saying the initiative will not affect school instruction. He denied that request.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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