Does The Legislatures Same-Sex Marriage Bill Really Conflict With Proposition 22?
Unfortunately, Yes. Of course, the problem of “changing demographics and changing attitudes” means, more generally, that many statutes on the books – perhaps especially statutes enacted by voter initiatives – might seem anachronistic and out-of-touch with today’s views. And yet until these outdated statutes are amended, we must faithfully respect and apply their terms. Indeed, the executive branch’s duty to enforce duly enacted state statutes that have not been invalidated by appellate courts was reinforced by last year’s California Supreme Court opinion chastising San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for his own actions permitting gay marriage. As we analyze in much more detail below, under California’s state constitution, amendments or repeals of initiative statutes themselves require approval of the voters to become effective. So it becomes quite important to decide whether Governor Schwarzenegger is right when he says the legislature’s bill inevitably conflicts with the operative terms
