Lisa Keen at Keen News Service focuses on Kennedy’s questions:
In the Proposition 8 argument, Kennedy asked three questions concerning legal standing and five concerning constitutional issues. On legal standing, he sent mixed signals. He expressed discomfort with the idea that the governor or attorney general of California could seemingly “thwart the initiative process” by refusing to defend a voter-approved initiative all the way through the appellate process. He also rebuffed a statement by Chief Justice John Roberts–who said a state “can’t authorize anyone” to press an appeal. Kennedy said the Yes on 8 proponents were “different from saying any citizen.” Those two points seemed to support allowing Yes on 8 standing to appeal. And yet, he acknowledged there is a “substantial question on standing.”
So what happens if the case is decided on a technicality? keen notes:
If the court finds a problem with legal standing or jurisdiction on either of these cases, it will likely issue that decision in the near future. Discussions of legal standing do not generally require a great deal of rumination. If it decides on the merits, the decision or decisions will most likely come out–as they have with past major gay-related opinions–in the final week of the session–the last week in June.
Interesting. So there’s at least a small possibility that we might have a decision in these cases before June.
