California State Senate Legislature: We Are Above the Law
The Washington Post notes that the California Senate, in passing Ass. Bill 849, has just became the first legislative body in the country to vote to legalize gay marriage without a court order. Conspicuously absent from the article is any reference to the fact that the California Senate is also the first legislative body in the world to do so in contravention of a court order or of its own constitution. Details, details.
UPDATE Dafydd ab Hugh has more.
UPDATE x2: Am I the only one who finds it a little Ass. backwards for an Ass. Bill to get voted on in the Senate before it passes through the Ass.?
UPDATE x3: The Ass. joined in. Now it’s just a question of whether the Governator will stand up and veto the bill or whether the Wimpinator and leave it to the courts. The Captain and the other Xrlq have more.
UPDATE x4: Consider this a divorce.
September 2nd, 2005 at 8:04 am
Did Prop. 22 change the constitution or statute?
September 2nd, 2005 at 9:12 am
It changed an intiative statute, Family Code Section 308.5, without a popular vote, in contravention of Article 2, Section 10 of the Constitution.
September 2nd, 2005 at 9:22 am
Gotcha. Well, then, I agree.
September 2nd, 2005 at 9:29 am
It also insults everyone’s intelligence by denying that it amends 308.5 at all. Instead, it frivolously “interprets” it as applying only to out of state marriages – an interpretation which, if correct, would raise genuine constitutional problems of its own. Section 3(f) of the bill:
September 2nd, 2005 at 9:47 am
Do you know that it is not being submitted to the voters, as required?
September 2nd, 2005 at 10:43 am
Do I know it for a fact? No. But if they are planning on submitting this turkey to the voters, this plan is one of the best-kept secrets I’ve encountered in some time. Their smarmy line about 308.5 supposedly not applying strikes me as highly inconsistent with any possibility that this bill was intended to go before the voters. After all, if voters are involved, what’s the point in pussyfooting around the applicable voter initiative? Rather than lie and claim the bill is not intended to alter 308.5 (which would be the only basis for submitting it to the voters in the first place), why not take it on directly?
September 2nd, 2005 at 2:02 pm
Yeah, Xrlq is right on this one, it’s not going to the voters. That’s the whole reason for the idiotic “interpretation” line. Because any amendment requires voter approval as the original was a voter approved initiative.
In Cali, there’s a heirarchy which puts intiative adopted measures above the power of the legislature to change (well it depends on the initiative, an initiative can say that the legislature has the power to change it, but that is less common.) In effect, it’s a super statute, the legislature can’t amend it by itself.
Prop. 22 though as X noted added a family code section. It is a statute, but it is not amendable by the legislature.
September 2nd, 2005 at 10:54 pm
[...] XRLQ posts: “Conspicuously absent from the article is any reference to the fact that the California Senate is also the first legislative body in the world to do so in contravention of a court order or of its own constitution. Details, details.” [...]
September 6th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
Regarding your second update…
AB 849 was gut and amended in the Senate. AB 19, the legalization of gay marriage was voted down on the Assembly back on June 2, 2005. Thus Assemblyman Mark Leno (D- San Francisco) pulled a common democrat procedure where a bill which is still alive is completely gutted and amended to contain a new subject (the bill used to be about fisheries). Therefore, AB 849 (formerly AB 19) could move to the Senate without a vote of the Assembly on this subject. AB 849 is scheduled to be heard in the Assembly today and will be a tough bill to pass because it was already defeated there once. However the Speaker of the Assembly and many powerful democrat activists have been quietly threatening the Democrats who voted against or failed to vote for AB 19 in June. Their committee memberships and future endorsements have been threatened. It will be interesting to see who has the guts to stand against their party leadership and do the right thing by voting against the bill.
September 7th, 2005 at 3:42 am
California Legislature Confirms Its Lack Of Connection To Voters
The California legislature became the first elected body in the US to approve gay marriage, passing the bill in the Assembly 41-35 and setting up a conundrum for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill defies a vote from five years ago,…
September 7th, 2005 at 8:25 am
[...] XRLQ has his take here. [...]
September 7th, 2005 at 10:45 am
That’s a Good Reason to Vote Yes
A member of the legislature was threatened into voting the way he did?
September 7th, 2005 at 11:24 am
Am I the only one who finds it a little Ass. backwards for an Ass. Bill to get voted on in the Senate before it passes through the Ass.?
Thats because the bill has a very sordid past. Leno’s actions are deplorable, as Mark points out.
Very interesting the legal discussion on its interaction with Prop 22. Thanks for the tip.
September 7th, 2005 at 3:08 pm
[...] XRLQ has his take here. [...]
September 7th, 2005 at 3:11 pm
Isn’t it a problem with the US Constitution “full faith and credit” bit to allow Kali to issue marriage licences to gays, but not credit as valid “marriages” from other states?
Sounds like Kali legislature set up the voter initiative to be gutted as unconstitutional per US constitution.
September 7th, 2005 at 3:16 pm
It could be. DOMA expressly allows the states not to recognize gay marriages from other states, but I’m not sure that protection applies to states that allow gay marriage under their own laws. In any event, the Legislature can’t set up the initiative to do anything. They can add smarmy language claiming that black means white and Prop 22 means something other than what it says, but no court is going to defer to that.
September 8th, 2005 at 9:02 pm
Gay Marriage Backlash? So What!
September 9th, 2005 at 10:19 am
“If “obey the law” equals whiny and pretentious, I suppose so.”
Governor Arnold crafted various “emergency” budget regulations that directly subverted California laws, including the education spending requirements mandated by California voters through our initiative process.
What complaining did XLRQ make about the vast hubris of the Gov. going against the will of the people of California and “breaking the law”?
{crickets chirping}
Obviously, you must possess an outrage of convenience. Brought out only when the issue at hand offends your particular prejudices.
Therefore I think “whiny and pretentious” lets you off easy.
September 9th, 2005 at 10:45 am
…he said, quoting no sources.
None. Xlrq is a web design company, not a blog. I wouldn’t expect them to complain about anything. As for me, this is the first I’ve heard of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s allegedly illegal emergency regulations. Seeing as I cited and even linked to the clearly-worded law Ass. Bill 845 would have violated, and to the constitutional provision that makes it clear which law trumps, I don’t think it’s too much to ask that you do the same before accusing me of selective outrage based on a regulation I’ve never heard of, a law I’m only vaguely familiar with, and a violation which, for all I know, may not even exist.
September 11th, 2005 at 4:32 pm
[Irrelevant, rambling, race-baiting spam deleted, user banned. -X.]
September 17th, 2005 at 11:36 am
These are the same jackasses who would vote to support more reciclous and worthless gun control laws and drag their feet about a budget but go out of their way to legalize gay marrages its time to dump everone of these usless idiots