Eyes On The CA Supremes Tomorrow

The CA Supreme Court hears arguments on marriage equality cases tomorrow and will issue a ruling within 90 days:

The court has scheduled three hours for oral arguments. The justices then have 90 days to issue a ruling. That could mean a rush to marry in June, the traditional wedding month.

The case dates back to 2004 when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Some 8,000 couples exchanged vows before the state Supreme Court ruled Newsom had acted illegally.

The court nullified the marriages but said its ruling dealt only with Newsom's actions. The justices said at the time the question of whether barring same-sex couples from marrying violated the state's equal protection clause of its constitution was a separate matter.

Legal challenges on the constitutional question were begun almost immediately. Three separate suits ultimately were wrapped together into a single case.

In March 2005 a Superior Court judge in San Francisco ruled that the law denying same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

After NY and NJ, I'm too cynical to bother crossing my fingers.