{"id":6701,"date":"2008-11-25T16:37:28","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T00:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bradblog.com\/?p=6701"},"modified":"2010-09-13T10:09:41","modified_gmt":"2010-09-13T17:09:41","slug":"by-voiding-equal-protection-prop-8-could-threaten-rights-of-minorities-nationwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=6701","title":{"rendered":"By Voiding Equal Protection, Prop 8 Could Threaten Rights of Minorities Nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

In their outreach to blacks, Latino, Asians and other minority voters, the conservative operatives behind Proposition 8 neglected to mention a key aspect of the initiative that could contribute to rolling back minority rights for years to come. <\/p>\n

Prop 8 not only rendered quaint the California Constitution’s equal protection clause — a foundational precept that instructs the state to protect the rights of all citizens equally — it also rescinded the right to marry for California gays. This sets it apart from other states’ anti-gay marriage amendments because it establishes a precedent for conservative efforts to curb minority rights<\/a> using ballot initiatives and by other means:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

California’s gay marriage ban could open the door to legal discrimination against unpopular groups if the state Supreme Court allows the voter-approved measure to stand, blacks, Latinos, Asians and other minorities said…<\/p>\n

Legal scholars say the measure, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, breaks new ground by limiting the courts’ ability to protect minorities.<\/p>\n

“They could take away any right from any group,” said University of Southern California Law Professor David Cruz, who filed a brief in favor of gay marriage in an earlier case.<\/p>\n

The ban … amended the constitution with 52 percent support — less than is required to approve some state bond measures.<\/p>\n

“The entire purpose behind the constitutional principle of equal protection would be subverted if the constitutional protection of unpopular minorities were subject to simple majority rule,” read a brief by black, Asian and Hispanic groups challenging the ban. “This case is not simply about gay and lesbian equality.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite the peril it presents to American social justice, legal experts say that the California Supreme Court is unlikely to overturn Prop 8 because they view it as having been passed within the parameters of existing law. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review. In their outreach to blacks, Latino, Asians and other minority voters, the conservative operatives behind Proposition 8 neglected to mention a key aspect of the initiative that could contribute to rolling back minority rights for years to come. Prop 8 not only rendered quaint the California Constitution’s equal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,309,332,126],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-6701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california","category-gay-marriage","category-lgbt","category-rights-and-freedoms","bb-type-bradblog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6701"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=6701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}