SACRAMENTO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown Friday urged the state Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, which eliminated same-sex marriage rights in the state.
Brown said the measure "deprives people of the right to marry, an aspect of liberty that the Supreme Court has concluded is guaranteed by the California Constitution," the Los Angeles Times reported.
After voters approved the proposition in November, and gay rights interests said they would challenge its legality, Brown had said he would defend the proposition against such challenges. California law requires the attorney general to defend state law.
Brown said he has concluded, after studying the issue, that legal challenges to Proposition 8 are valid. Opponents of the initiative argue it amounts to a revision of the state constitution, rather than an amendment -- which would be more limited in scope.
A revision requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or a constitutional convention before it can be put on a ballot in California. Proposition 8 was put on the ballot as the result of a petition drive.
"Proposition 8 must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification," Brown said in a statement.
Frank Schubert, campaign manager for Proposition 8, said Brown's decision was "outrageous."
In a brief filed Friday with the state Supreme Court, Brown also said the same-sex marriages performed in California after the court ruled that the state constitution permits same-sex marriage should remain valid.
In a separate brief, a group called Protect Marriage argued those marriages should be invalidated.
