Ninth Circuit Now Free to Decide the Merits of the Constitutional Challenge to Prop. 8

(Eugene Volokh)

The California Supreme Court has just decided that the official proponents of an enacted initiative — the group that got it onto the ballot — may, under California law, assert the state's interest in defending the initiative when state officials refuse to do so. This means, given the Ninth Circuit earlier analysis of the matter, that the proponents of Prop. 8 have the legally required "standing" to appeal the trial court's decision holding Prop. 8 unconstitutional. And that in turn means that the Ninth Circuit (and likely eventually the Supreme Court) can consider whether Prop. 8 is indeed constitutional.