Contact: Cherri Spriggs Hernandez, ProtectMarriage.com, 916-448-4234


SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- The official proponents of Proposition 8 and ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8, the campaign committee responsible for its enactment by voters today said it is "profoundly gratified" that the California Supreme Court granted all their requests by agreeing to accept original jurisdiction of three cases challenging the measure's validity, granted their request to intervene in the cases as Real Parties in Interest, denied the request of others to delay implementation of Proposition 8, and refused to allow outside groups to directly participate in the litigation.

Press Note: ProtectMarriage.com - Yes on 8 will have a press availability at 3:30pm today at the offices of Schubert Flint Public Affairs - 1415 L Street, Suite 1250 in Sacramento. General Counsel Andy Pugno and Campaign Manager Frank Schubert will be available to comment and answer questions.

"This is a great day for the rule of law and the voters of California," said ProtectMarriage.com General Counsel Andy Pugno. "This order means that voters will get their day in court and ensures that voters will have a vigorous defense of Proposition 8 before the California Supreme Court. We are profoundly gratified with the Court's order and are confident that Proposition 8 will be upheld."

The Supreme Court has accepted original jurisdiction of three cases that claim Proposition 8 is a constitutional revision rather than a constitutional amendment and thus should not have been presented to voters. The Court's order accepting the cases, as was requests by the proponents of Proposition 8, will provide a ruling on Prop 8's validity in a matter of months, rather than potentially years of protracted litigation.

Perhaps the most significant part of the Supreme Court's order is to deny the requests of the plaintiffs in the three cases to stay the implementation of Proposition 8. This means that, once the vote is certified, Proposition 8 will take effect as of midnight, November 5th. The Constitution of California has been amended to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman will be valid or recognized in California.

"The California Supreme Court is recognizing the People's vote on Proposition 8 and is allowing the measure to go into full effect," Pugno said. "This is a great legal victory for voters."

Also of key significance, the Court has granted the request of the proponents of the initiative and their campaign committee to intervene in the litigation as Real Parties in Interests. This ruling grants the backers of Prop. 8 full legal standing to submit written arguments and appear in oral argument before the Court.

"Granting the backers of Prop. 8 intervention in these cases means that voters can be certain that there will be a thorough and vigorous defense of Prop. 8," Pugno said. "Voters will not have to solely depend on Attorney General Jerry Brown to defend the measure. Since the attorney general was an active opponent of Proposition 8, we did not want the fate of the measure to rest in his defense of it."

The Court also denied the request of unrelated parties, including the Campaign for California Families (CCF), to intervene in the litigation. The proponents of Prop. 8 had asked the Court to deny CCF's proposed intervention.

The cases seeking to invalidate Proposition 8 are Strauss v. Horton, S168047; City and County of San Francisco v. Horton, S168078; and Tyler v. State of California, S168066.