Theodore B. Olson and David Boies will announce a federal court challenge to Proposition 8 today in Downtown, LA at the Biltmore Hotel beginning at 9:30am PST. The suit was filed by two same-sex couples who wish to be married but have been denied marriage licenses because of Proposition 8.
Olson, a former U.S. Solicitor General, represented George W. Bush in 2000’s Bush v. Gore, which decided the presidential election. Boies represented Al Gore in that case. This is the first time they have served alongside each other as co-counsel. The case is a project of the American Foundation for Equal Rights.
The suit also calls for an injunction against Proposition 8 until the case is resolved, which would immediately reinstate marriage rights for same sex couples.
In May 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that the state’s law prohibiting same sex marriage was unconstitutional under the privacy, due process and equal protection guarantees of the California Constitution. Proposition 8 was passed in November 2008 to amend the California Constitution to eliminate the equal rights it guaranteed to same sex couples. On May 26, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8 as a valid amendment to the State’s Constitution.
View the news conference online at www.equalrightsfoundation.org