Gay Marriage Opponents File Responses to Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown

Claiming that California Attorney General Jerry Brown's brief supporting the invalidation of Prop 8 "failed on every level," gay marriage opponents filed briefs Monday in rebuttal to Brown's "invented an entirely new theory."

Brown's brief relied on the argument that "the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification."

Whitewater prosecutor and Pepperdine Law School Dean, Kenneth Starr, co-wrote the brief along with the Protect Marriage Coalition, saying Brown's theory is "utterly without foundation in this court's case law" and "is not only unprecedented but contradicts the most basic understanding of the role of the judiciary in a constitutional democracy."

Gay marriage proponents, surprised by Brown's about face, agreed with the attorney general that Prop 8 should be invalidated, but on the grounds that it was a revision to the state constitution and required a two-thirds majority of the legislature before it could go to the ballot, an argument that Brown rejected.

The California Supreme Court plans to hear arguments on Prop 8 in March.