Followers of the anti-Prop 8 litigation will recall that the Ninth Circuit certified to the California supreme court a question of state law that bears on Prop 8 proponents’ standing to maintain their federal appeal. The California supreme court has just issued a unanimous opinion answering that question in a manner that appears to be strongly favorable to Prop 8 proponents:
In a postelection challenge to a voter-approved initiative measure, the official proponents of the initiative are authorized under California law to appear and assert the state’s interest in the initiative’s validity and to appeal a judgment invalidating the measure when the public officials who ordinarily defend the measure or appeal such a judgment decline to do so.
I may have some additional commentary after I have read the opinion.