Should U.S. Supreme Court Allow Prop H8 Proponents Standing?

September 6th, 2011 at 10:00am the U.S. Supreme Court heard the arguments from both sides of the Prop 8 trial in effect right now. If you watched it, you saw that the opponents for Prop 8 had a stronger case, so the question is should the U.S. Supreme Court grant the proponents standing?

You may be reading this and thinking, "of course they should not allow them standing, then Californian's can resume marriage equality." There are a few factors you do need to keep in mind though. If you watched the arguments in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that eventually shifted the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, temporarily, to clarify the law on whether or not proponents for any measure are allowed to defend the measure in court once enacted into law if State Officials decline to do so. Here's the deal, if U.S. Supreme Court says no (which they will have an answer by Dec. 3, 2011) then the 9th Circuit is allowed to ask more questions of the U.S. Supreme Court to get more detail on the situation and in the end will most likely result in marriage equality within California.

Now, time and time again the proponents for Prop 8 have not been able to make a legitimate argument to defend the proposition ruled unconstitutional by Judge Vaughn Walker. They have pulled out every stop they could possibly pull in this debate of values, but once again they have failed and continue to fail. Here's the deal though, call me crazy, but it would actually be a GOOD THING if the U.S. Supreme Court grants them standing. You're probably thinking to yourself, "Jon Scott what are you saying, you need to stop." First off I won't stop because the title of the blog says it all, Second proponents gaining standing would be a good thing (slightly risky) because of this reason here... but first a little education on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

There are 11 Circuit Court of Appeals for the United States. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals covers these following districts:

• Alaska
• Arizona
• Central District of California
  
• Eastern District of California
  
• Western District of California
  
• Southern District of California
  
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Montana
• Nevada
• Oregon
• Eastern District of Washington
• Western District of Washington
  

It also has jurisdiction over Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. That's 9 States and 15 Districts.

This means that the 9th circuit is the largest of them all with 19.72% (as of 2009) of the National Population under its jurisdiction. Here is a map of the districts and their jurisdictions.


So, if the U.S. Supreme Court grants the Prop 8 proponents standing, the 9th Circuit will hear this case. If you watched the opening statements in the 9th Circuit on the webcast you saw that proponents had a hard time making their case and were called out on their contradictions. With standing granted, if granted, and the 9th Circuit rules Prop 8 as unconstitutional, ALL territories/districts within the 9th Circuit will have to follow suit. Meaning marriage equality would exist in every district under the 9th Circuit's jurisdiction.

Gay marriage is legal in six states as of right now Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and D.C. (I know D.C. is not a state). With these 6 plus the 9 other states and 2 territories we are looking at a total of 17, yeah 34% of this country, with full marriage equality. This will help us push forward and fight to end DOMA once and for all. This will give equal rights to everyone, and would be the start to take on FEDERAL MARRIAGE EQUALITY... the 9th Circuit case is important for more than just Californian's.

So if the U.S. Supreme Court grants the Prop 8 Proponents standing, its actually a good thing.

Keep the fight going, FEDERAL MARRIAGE EQUALITY FOR 2012