Prop. 8 Goes to CA Supreme Court

clipped from www.mcclatchydc.com Starting at 9 a.m. Thursday, California's Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for and against the validity of Proposition 8, the controversial November ballot measure that barred same-sex unions in California by declaring marriage only for a man and a woman. The debate will turn on the constitutional right of equal protection, the role of the judiciary and the power of the electorate in configuring the state constitution. The hearing will be streamed live on sacbee.com and www.calchannel,com. It will also be broadcast live on the California Channel, which is available through cable networks across the state.

The main question here is whether the majority can take rights from away the minority. Forget about gays and marriage, can Californians take voting rights from people, for example?

The question is much broader than this one case, as would be the consequences. It could easily be argued that, if Prop. 8 is allowed to stand, Californians have no rights -- at least, not as far as the state constitution is concerned -- they only enjoy privileges that can be taken away by a simple majority vote at any time.