San Francisco Court Lays Ground Rules For Prop 8 Hearing

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - A federal appeals court has already set the stage for next month's hearing on whether California's controversial Proposition 8 is legal. The court indicated that it first wanted to hear arguments about whether anyone even had a legal standing to try to reinstate the ban on same sex marriage.

KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker tossed out Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage, declaring it violated the U.S. Constitution.

Its authors appealed, and were later joined by Imperial County, which wanted to help defend the voter-approved law.

The 9th Circuit scheduled a two-hour hearing for December 6. The first hour was expected to be dedicated to arguments on whether the authors and the county had proper standing to bring the appeal.

The second hour was to be dedicated to arguments about the legality of the law.

"We are extremely eager for December 6 to come around. If we can make the same case we made at the district level to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, we think we can move equality forward for that many more people," declared Yusef Robb with the American Foundation for Equal Rights.

"It is impermissible for the government to create separate laws for separate groups of Americans. And whether we end up with half an hour to make that case, 15 minutes to make that case or a full hour to make that case, we think the answer is clear. Proposition 8 is unconstitutional and impermissible."

Proposition 8 proponents were not immediately available for comment. They previously expressed confidence that they would win standing to appeal.

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