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"The constitution has now been amended by the sovereign people who are its creators."

SAN FRANCISCO, March 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The lead attorney for the proponents of Proposition 8 and the campaign committee responsible for its enactment today told the justices of the California Supreme Court that, "the constitution has now been amended by the sovereign people who are its creators. That is the beginning and end of this case."

Kenneth W. Starr, lead attorney for Protectmarriage.com, told the Court that the people have the final word on what the state Constitution says. "The people have the inalienable right to control their constitution." Starr is a former judge of the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC and served as Solicitor General of the United States, where he represented the nation in more than two dozen cases before the United States Supreme Court.

The legal challenges against Proposition 8 claim that the measure could not be added to the constitution by ballot initiative, but rather only by a constitutional "revision," requiring either a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or a statewide Constitutional Convention. California has not had such a convention since the last one held in 1879. Attorney General Jerry Brown, while arguing that Prop 8 is not an improper revision, advanced a novel legal theory that the measure should still be invalidated because Starr verbally testified to the court it allegedly infringes on the "inalienable" right of same-sex couples to liberty.

Starr spoke before the justices for 60 minutes, the longest period afforded any of the attorneys who presented arguments to the Court. He stated that Proposition 8 was a properly enacted amendment to the state constitution, and not a revision as alleged by those challenging the measure. "Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions, or exclusions. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Describing Proposition 8 as a revision to the state constitution, depends on characterizing Proposition 8 as a radical departure from the fundamental principles of the California Constitution. But that portrayal is wildly wrong. Proposition 8 is limited in nature and effect. It does nothing more than restore the definition of marriage to what it was and always had been under California law before June 16, 2008 - and to what the people had repeatedly willed that it be throughout California's history. It is now part of the state constitution."

Attorney General Jerry Brown agreed that Proposition 8 is not an improper revision of the constitution, but nevertheless argued that the measure should be invalidated, urging the Court to elevate the rights of same sex couples above the right of the people of California to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Starr said of that contention, "to embrace what truly would be a revolution it is utterly without formalization in the courts jurisprudence."

The Supreme Court will issue its ruling within 90 days. The cases are Strauss v. Horton, S168047; City and County of San Francisco v. Horton, S168078; and Tyler v. State of California, S168066.