::deep breath::

[princesofswords]

Right, so I know this probably isn't going to go over well, but since everyone is putting up "omg go to hell california supreme court you make me ashamed of my state" posts everywhere I thought a little diversity would be good.

Our problem is NOT with our state supreme court. Don't forget that this is the same group of people who ruled that same-sex

Comments

[charcoalgrey]

yo

[princesofswords]

Hi! I was just thinking of you yesterday while reminiscing over some Muse. How goes?

[ironhawke]

Obviously I don't live in California, but out here in Colorado we deal with the same sort of issues. We have a huge number of constitutional amendments each yeah because of the same problem...a simple majority vote.

Thanks for posting your thoughts on this...I've been reading some of the LJ political journals and there are quite a few people who are angry at the Californian S.C. for this one. They need to understand that the Supreme Court is supposed to clarify and uphold existing law *not create it.*

That being said, what do you think about the new SCOTUS appointee?

[xellyfer]

What about the 2/3rds majority? To make any ammendments or additions to the california constitution there needs to be a 2/3rds popular vote. And prop 8 could not have hit the broad side of a barn in that respect. So technically, our supreme court is ignoring a portion of their duties to uphold the constitution by overlooking the 2/3rd rule which was popularly instituted by 2/3rds of the California community when it was created.

[xellyfer]

Upon closer inspection California's 2/3rds majority appears to only apply to budget, tax, or deficit issues. So, that's totally lame and backwards.

[princesofswords]

Yeah. I've been doing some research as well and it seems that because the California constitution can get new amendments thrown in by a mere majority vote, it's one of the longest constitutions in the world, and is described as "the perfect example of what a constitution ought NOT to be."

It's ironic that the constitution was initially designed with a basic mistrust in lawmakers and more faith in the (presumably progressive) populace to be able to make policy decisions, but the demographic for which that process was created is up in arms because on this issue, they're in the minority, albeit just barely. I really hope we figure out that this is a lousy method and switch to a 2/3 vote for constitutional amendments, like the rest of the country. We really need to raise our standards.

[ext_67129]

preferably we do so after we fix the wrong done with prop 8, because undoing that would be just as hard...

Good post though. I recommend reading supreme court decisions in general, they're often very enlightening.