The "opinion" text - VERY long - Democratic Underground

WillParkinson

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Tue May-26-09 12:49 PM
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The "opinion" text - VERY long

Filed 5/26/09

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA

KAREN L. STRAUSS et al., )
Petitioners, )
v. )
MARK B. HORTON, as State Registrar of Vital Statistics, etc., et al., ) S168047
Respondents; )
DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH et al., )
Interveners. )
———————————————————————————— )
ROBIN TYLER et al., )
Petitioners, )
v. )
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA et al., ) S168066
Respondents; )
DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH et al., )
Interveners. )
———————————————————————————— )
CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO et al., )
Petitioners, )
v. )
MARK B. HORTON, as State Registrar of Vital Statistics, etc., et al., ) S168078
Respondents; )
DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH et al., )
Interveners. )
————————————————————————————

For the third time in recent years, this court is called upon to address a question under California law relating to marriage and same-sex couples.
In Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco (2004) 33 Cal.4th 1055 (Lockyer), we were faced with the question whether public officials of the City and County of San Francisco acted lawfully by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the absence of a judicial determination that the California statutes limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman were unconstitutional. We concluded in Lockyer that the public officials had acted unlawfully in issuing licenses in the absence of such a judicial determination, but emphasized in our opinion that the substantive question of the constitutional validity of the marriage statutes was not before our court in that proceeding.
In In re Marriage Cases (2008) 43 Cal.4th 757 (hereafter the Marriage Cases), we confronted the substantive constitutional question that had not been addressed in Lockyer — namely, the constitutional validity, under the then-controlling provisions of the California Constitution, of the California marriage statutes limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman. A majority of this court concluded in the Marriage Cases that same-sex couples, as well as opposite-sex couples, enjoy the protection of the constitutional right to marry embodied in the privacy and due process provisions of the California Constitution, and that by granting access to the designation of “marriage” to opposite-sex couples and denying such access to same-sex couples, the existing California marriage statutes impinged upon the privacy and due process rights of same-sex couples and violated those couples’ right to the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the California Constitution.
Proposition 8, an initiative measure approved by a majority of voters at the November 4, 2008 election, added a new section — section 7.5 — to article I of the California Constitution, providing: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The measure took effect on November 5, 2008. In the present case, we address the question whether Proposition 8, under the governing provisions of the California Constitution, constitutes a permissible change to the California Constitution, and — if it does — we are faced with the further question of the effect, if any, of Proposition 8 upon the estimated 18,000 marriages of same-sex couples that were performed before that initiative measure was adopted.
In a sense, this trilogy of cases illustrates the variety of limitations that our constitutional system imposes upon each branch of government — the executive, the legislative, and the judicial.
In addressing the issues now presented in the third chapter of this narrative, it is important at the outset to emphasize a number of significant points. First, as explained in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at page 780, our task in the present proceeding is not to determine whether the provision at issue is wise or sound as a matter of policy or whether we, as individuals, believe it should be a part of the California Constitution. Regardless of our views as individuals on this question of policy, we recognize as judges and as a court our responsibility to confine our consideration to a determination of the constitutional validity and legal effect of the measure in question. It bears emphasis in this regard that our role is limited to interpreting and applying the principles and rules embodied in the California Constitution, setting aside our own personal beliefs and values.
Second, it also is necessary to understand that the legal issues before us in this case are entirely distinct from those that were presented in either Lockyer or the Marriage Cases. Unlike the issues that were before us in those cases, the issues facing us here do not concern a public official’s authority (or lack of authority) to refuse to comply with his or her ministerial duty to enforce a statute on the basis of the official’s personal view that the statute is unconstitutional, or the validity (or invalidity) of a statutory provision limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman under state constitutional provisions that do not expressly permit or prescribe such a limitation. Instead, the principal issue before us concerns the scope of the right of the people, under the provisions of the California Constitution, to change or alter the state Constitution itself through the initiative process so as to incorporate such a limitation as an explicit section of the state Constitution.
In considering this question, it is essential to keep in mind that the provisions of the California Constitution governing the procedures by which that Constitution may be amended are very different from the more familiar provisions of the United States Constitution relating to the means by which the federal Constitution may be amended. The federal Constitution provides that an amendment to that Constitution may be proposed either by two-thirds of both houses of Congress or by a convention called on the application of two-thirds of the state legislatures, and requires, in either instance, that any proposed amendment be ratified by the legislatures of (or by conventions held in) three-fourths of the states. (U.S. Const., art. V.) In contrast, the California Constitution provides that an amendment to that Constitution may be proposed either by two-thirds of the membership of each house of the Legislature (Cal. Const., art. XVIII, § 1) or by an initiative petition signed by voters numbering at least 8 percent of the total votes cast for all candidates for Governor in the last gubernatorial election (Cal. Const., art. II, § 8, subd. (b); id., art. XVIII, § 3), and further specifies that, once an amendment is proposed by either means, the amendment becomes part of the state Constitution if it is approved by a simple majority of the voters who cast votes on the measure at a statewide election. (Id., art. XVIII, § 4.)
As is evident from the foregoing description, the process for amending our state Constitution is considerably less arduous and restrictive than the amendment process embodied in the federal Constitution, a difference dramatically demonstrated by the circumstance that only 27 amendments to the United States Constitution have been adopted since the federal Constitution was ratified in 1788, whereas more than 500 amendments to the California Constitution have been adopted since ratification of California’s current Constitution in 1879. (See Council of State Governments, The Book of the States (2008 ed.) p. 10.)
At the same time, as numerous decisions of this court have explained, although the initiative process may be used to propose and adopt amendments to the California Constitution, under its governing provisions that process may not be used to revise the state Constitution. (See, e.g., McFadden v. Jordan (1948) 32 Cal.2d 330; Amador Valley Joint Union High Sch. Dist. v. State Bd. of Equalization (1978) 22 Cal.3d 208; Raven v. Deukmejian (1990) 52 Cal.3d 336.) Petitioners’ principal argument rests on the claim that Proposition 8 should be viewed as a constitutional revision rather than as a constitutional amendment, and that this change in the state Constitution therefore could not lawfully be adopted through the initiative process.
As we discuss at length below, in determining whether Proposition 8 constitutes a constitutional amendment or, instead, a constitutional revision, we by no means write on a clean slate. Although the issue arises in this case in the context of an initiative measure, the distinction drawn in the California Constitution between constitutional amendments and constitutional revisions long predates the adoption in 1911 of the initiative process as part of the California Constitution. The origin and history in the pre-initiative era of this distinction between an amendment and a revision shed considerable light upon the contemplated scope of the two categories. As we shall see, our state’s original 1849 California Constitution provided that the Legislature could propose constitutional amendments, but that a constitutional revision could be proposed only by means of a constitutional convention, the method used in 1849 to draft the initial constitution in anticipation of California’s statehood the following year. Thus, as originally adopted, the constitutional amendment/revision dichotomy in California — which mirrored the framework set forth in many other state constitutions of the same vintage — indicates that the category of constitutional revision referred to the kind of wholesale or fundamental alteration of the constitutional structure that appropriately could be undertaken only by a constitutional convention, in contrast to the category of constitutional amendment, which included any and all of the more discrete changes to the Constitution that thereafter might be proposed. (As we note later, it was not until the state Constitution was changed in 1962 — through a constitutional amendment — that the Legislature obtained the authority to propose revisions to all or part of the Constitution.)
Furthermore, in addition to the historical background of the amendment/revision language that appears in the California Constitution itself, over the past three decades numerous decisions of this court have considered whether a variety of proposed changes to the California Constitution represented constitutional amendments or instead constitutional revisions. Those decisions establish both the analytical framework and the legal standard that govern our decision in this case, and further apply the governing standard to a wide array of measures that added new provisions and substantially altered existing provisions of the state Constitution. Those decisions explain that in resolving the amendment/revision question, a court carefully must assess (1) the meaning and scope of the constitutional change at issue, and (2) the effect — both quantitative and qualitative — that the constitutional change will have on the basic governmental plan or framework embodied in the preexisting provisions of the California Constitution.
In analyzing the constitutional challenges presently before us, we first explain that the provision added to the California Constitution by Proposition 8, when considered in light of the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757 (which preceded the adoption of Proposition 8), properly must be understood as having a considerably narrower scope and more limited effect than suggested by petitioners in the cases before us. Contrary to petitioners’ assertion, Proposition 8 does not entirely repeal or abrogate the aspect of a same-sex couple’s state constitutional right of privacy and due process that was analyzed in the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases — that is, the constitutional right of same-sex couples to “choose one’s life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized, and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage” (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at p. 829). Nor does Proposition 8 fundamentally alter the meaning and substance of state constitutional equal protection principles as articulated in that opinion. Instead, the measure carves out a narrow and limited exception to these state constitutional rights, reserving the official designation of the term “marriage” for the union of opposite-sex couples as a matter of state constitutional law, but leaving undisturbed all of the other extremely significant substantive aspects of a same-sex couple’s state constitutional right to establish an officially recognized and protected family relationship and the guarantee of equal protection of the laws.
By clarifying this essential point, we by no means diminish or minimize the significance that the official designation of “marriage” holds for both the proponents and opponents of Proposition 8; indeed, the importance of the marriage designation was a vital factor in the majority opinion’s ultimate holding in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, 845-846, 855. Nonetheless, it is crucial that we accurately identify the actual effect of Proposition 8 on same-sex couples’ state constitutional rights, as those rights existed prior to adoption of the proposition, in order to be able to assess properly the constitutional challenges to the proposition advanced in the present proceeding. We emphasize only that among the various constitutional protections recognized in the Marriage Cases as available to same-sex couples, it is only the designation of marriage — albeit significant — that has been removed by this initiative measure.
Taking into consideration the actual limited effect of Proposition 8 upon the preexisting state constitutional right of privacy and due process and upon the guarantee of equal protection of the laws, and after comparing this initiative measure to the many other constitutional changes that have been reviewed and evaluated in numerous prior decisions of this court, we conclude Proposition 8 constitutes a constitutional amendment rather than a constitutional revision. As a quantitative matter, petitioners concede that Proposition 8 — which adds but a single, simple section to the Constitution — does not constitute a revision. As a qualitative matter, the act of limiting access to the designation of marriage to opposite-sex couples does not have a substantial or, indeed, even a minimal effect on the governmental plan or framework of California that existed prior to the amendment. Contrary to petitioners’ claim in this regard, the measure does not transform or undermine the judicial function; this court will continue to exercise its traditional responsibility to faithfully enforce all of the provisions of the California Constitution, which now include the new section added through the voters’ approval of Proposition 8. Furthermore, the judiciary’s authority in applying the state Constitution always has been limited by the content of the provisions set forth in our Constitution, and that limitation remains unchanged.
Petitioners contend, however, that even if Proposition 8 does not affect the governmental plan or framework established by the state Constitution, the measure nonetheless should be considered to be a revision because it conflicts with an assertedly fundamental constitutional principle that protects a minority group from having its constitutional rights diminished in any respect by majority vote. Petitioners, however, cannot point to any authority supporting their claim that under the California Constitution, a constitutional amendment — proposed and adopted by a majority of voters through the initiative process — cannot diminish in any respect the content of a state constitutional right as that right has been interpreted in a judicial decision. As we shall see, there have been many amendments to the California Constitution, adopted by the people through the initiative process in response to court decisions interpreting various provisions of the California Constitution, that have had just such an effect.
We agree with petitioners that the state constitutional right to equal protection of the laws unquestionably represents a long-standing and fundamental constitutional principle (a constitutional principle that, as we already have explained, has not generally been repealed or eliminated by Proposition 8). There are many other constitutional rights that have been amended in the past through the initiative process, however, that also are embodied in the state Constitution’s Declaration of Rights and reflect equally long-standing and fundamental constitutional principles whose purpose is to protect often unpopular individuals and groups from overzealous or abusive treatment that at times may be condoned by a transient majority. Neither the language of the relevant constitutional provisions, nor our past cases, support the proposition that any of these rights is totally exempt from modification by a constitutional amendment adopted by a majority of the voters through the initiative process.
The constitutions of a number of other states contain express provisions precluding the use of the initiative power to amend portions or specified provisions of those states’ constitutions (see, e.g., Mass. Const., amend. art. XLVIII, pt. II, § 2 <“No proposition inconsistent with any one of the following rights of the individual, as at present declared in the declaration of rights, shall be the subject of an initiative . . . petition: [listing a number of rights, including the rights to just compensation, jury trial, and protection from unreasonable search, and the freedoms of speech, assembly, and of the press>]; Miss. Const., art. 15, § 273, subd. (5) <“The initiative process shall not be used: [> (a) For the proposal, modification or repeal of any portion of the Bill of Rights of this Constitution”].) In contrast, the California Constitution contains no comparable limitation. In the absence of such an express restriction on the initiative power, and in light of past California authorities, we conclude that the California Constitution cannot be interpreted as restricting the scope of the people’s right to amend their Constitution in the manner proposed by petitioners.
Petitioners also claim that Proposition 8 violates the separation of powers doctrine embodied in the California Constitution. We conclude this claim similarly lacks merit. Contrary to petitioners’ assertion, Proposition 8 does not “readjudicate” the issue that was litigated and resolved in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757. The initiative measure does not declare the state of the law as it existed under the California Constitution at the time of the Marriage Cases, but rather establishes a new substantive state constitutional rule that took effect upon the voters’ approval of Proposition 8. Because the California Constitution explicitly recognizes the right of the people to amend their state Constitution through the initiative process, the people, in exercising that authority, have not in any way impermissibly usurped a power allocated by the Constitution exclusively to the judiciary or some other entity or branch of government.
The Attorney General, in his briefing before this court, has advanced an alternative theory — not raised by petitioners in their initial petitions — under which he claims that even if Proposition 8 constitutes a constitutional amendment rather than a constitutional revision, that initiative measure nonetheless should be found invalid under the California Constitution on the ground that the “inalienable rights” embodied in article I, section 1 of that Constitution are not subject to “abrogation” by constitutional amendment without a compelling state interest. The Attorney General’s contention is flawed, however, in part because, like petitioners’ claims, it rests inaccurately upon an overstatement of the effect of Proposition 8 on both the fundamental constitutional right of privacy guaranteed by article I, section 1, and on the due process and equal protection guarantees of article I, section 7. As explained below, Proposition 8 does not abrogate any of these state constitutional rights, but instead carves out a narrow exception applicable only to access to the designation of the term “marriage,” but not to any other of “the core set of basic substantive legal rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage . . .” (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at p. 781), such as the right to establish an officially recognized and protected family relationship with the person of one’s choice and to raise children within that family.
In addition, no authority supports the Attorney General’s claim that a constitutional amendment adopted through the constitutionally prescribed procedure is invalid simply because the amendment affects a prior judicial interpretation of a right that the Constitution denominates “inalienable.” The natural-law jurisprudence reflected in passages from the few early judicial opinions relied upon by the Attorney General has been discredited for many years, and, in any event, no decision suggests that when a constitution has been explicitly amended to modify a constitutional right (including a right identified in the Constitution as “inalienable”), the amendment may be found unconstitutional on the ground that it conflicts with some implicit or extraconstitutional limitation that is to be framed and enforced by the judiciary. Although the amending provisions of a constitution can expressly place some subjects or portions of the constitution off-limits to the amending process — as already noted, some state constitutions contain just such explicit limits — the California Constitution contains no such restraints. This court would radically depart from the well-established limits of the judicial function were it to engraft such a restriction onto the Constitution in the absence of an explicit constitutional provision limiting the amendment power.
Accordingly, we conclude that each of the state constitutional challenges to Proposition 8 advanced by petitioners and the Attorney General lacks merit. Having been approved by a majority of the voters at the November 4, 2008 election, the initiative measure lawfully amends the California Constitution to include the new provision as article I, section 7.5.
In a sense, petitioners’ and the Attorney General’s complaint is that it is just too easy to amend the California Constitution through the initiative process. But it is not a proper function of this court to curtail that process; we are constitutionally bound to uphold it. If the process for amending the Constitution is to be restricted — perhaps in the manner it was explicitly limited in an earlier version of our state Constitution (see, post, at pp. 46-55), or as limited in the present-day constitutions of some of our sister states (see, post, at pp. 105-107) — this is an effort that the people themselves may undertake through the process of amending their Constitution in order to impose further limitations upon their own power of initiative.
Finally, we consider whether Proposition 8 affects the validity of the marriages of same-sex couples that were performed prior to the adoption of Proposition 8. Applying well-established legal principles pertinent to the question whether a constitutional provision should be interpreted to apply prospectively or retroactively, we conclude that the new section cannot properly be interpreted to apply retroactively. Accordingly, the marriages of same-sex couples performed prior to the effective date of Proposition 8 remain valid and must continue to be recognized in this state.

I
To place the constitutional change effected by Proposition 8 in context, we review the relevant historical circumstances that preceded the drafting, circulation, and adoption of this initiative measure.
We begin with a condensed summary of the relevant history of California’s marriage statutes, a history described in greater detail by the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757. As explained in that opinion, “rom the beginning of California statehood, the legal institution of civil marriage has been understood to refer to a relationship between a man and a woman.” (Id. at p. 792, fn. omitted.) In the mid﷓1970’s, however, at least in part as a consequence of changes in the language of the California marriage statutes made in response to an unrelated subject (id. at p. 794), same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses from county clerks in a number of California counties. At that point in time all of the county clerks denied the applications, “but in order to eliminate any uncertainty as to whether the then existing marriage statutes authorized marriage between two persons of the same sex, legislation was introduced in 1977 at the request of the County Clerks’ Association of California to amend to clarify that the applicable California statutes authorized marriage only between a man and a woman.” (Id. at p. 795.) The 1977 bill was enacted into law, and as a result the relevant statutory provision — now embodied in Family Code section 300 — declared in relevant part that “arriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman . . . .” The intent of this statute clearly was to limit marriages that lawfully could be performed in California to marriages of opposite﷓sex couples. (43 Cal.4th at p. 795.)
This marriage statute, as amended in 1977, remained in effect throughout the 1980’s, 1990’s, and 2000’s, and continued to limit marriages that lawfully could be performed in California to marriages of opposite-sex couples. In the mid- and late-1990’s and early 2000’s, however, in response to a 1993 decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court that raised the possibility that the courts of that state might conclude that the Hawaii statute limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violated the provisions of the Hawaii Constitution and that same-sex couples lawfully could marry in Hawaii (see Baehr v. Lewin (1993) 74 Haw. 530 <852 P.2d 44>), the United States Congress and many states adopted so-called Defense of Marriage Acts generally setting forth, in varying terms, the particular jurisdiction’s policies of (1) limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples, and (2) recognizing only those marriages, entered into in another jurisdiction, that involved opposite-sex couples.
In California, supporters of this “defense of marriage” movement drafted and circulated an initiative petition that ultimately appeared on the March 7, 2000 primary election ballot as Proposition 22. Unlike comparable measures in some other states that took the form of state constitutional amendments, Proposition 22 proposed the adoption in California of a new statutory provision, Family Code section 308.5. That statute provided, in full: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” At the March 7, 2000 election, the voters of California approved Proposition 22, and section 308.5 became part of the Family Code.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Family Code sections 300 and 308.5, in February 2004 public officials of the City and County of San Francisco, acting on their personal opinion that the provisions of the California marriage statutes limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples were unconstitutional — but in the absence of any judicial determination of that legal question — began issuing marriage licenses to, and solemnizing marriages of, numerous same-sex couples. Shortly thereafter, the Attorney General and a number of taxpayers filed original proceedings in this court, maintaining that the actions of the city officials were unlawful and requesting our immediate intervention. (Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco, S122923, and Lewis v. Alfaro, S122865, consolidated and decided in Lockyer, supra, 33 Cal.4th 1055.) On March 11, 2004, we issued an order to show cause in those proceedings, and, pending our determination of the matters, directed the local officials to enforce the existing marriage statutes and to refrain from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. At the same time, we indicated that our order did not preclude the filing of a separate action in superior court raising, for judicial determination, a direct challenge to the constitutionality of California’s marriage statutes.
Shortly thereafter, several new actions were filed in superior court challenging the constitutionality of the California marriage statutes. Subsequently those actions, along with several others, were combined into a single coordination proceeding entitled In re Marriage Cases (JCCP No. 4365) and assigned to a superior court judge.
In August 2004, while the Marriage Cases coordination proceeding was pending in superior court, our court rendered its decision in Lockyer, supra, 33 Cal.4th 1055. We concluded that the local officials had exceeded their authority in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the absence of a judicial determination that the statutory provisions limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples were unconstitutional, and further held that the approximately 4,000 marriages of same-sex couples performed in San Francisco prior to our March 11, 2004 order were void and of no legal effect. At the same time, our opinion in Lockyer emphasized that the substantive question of the constitutionality of California’s statutes limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples was not before this court in that case, and that we were expressing no view on that issue.
After we filed our decision in Lockyer, supra, 33 Cal.4th 1055, the superior court in the Marriage Cases coordination proceeding obtained briefing and conducted a hearing on the substantive question of the validity, under the state Constitution, of California’s statutes limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. After considering the parties’ positions, the superior court concluded that the California marriage statutes, in limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples and denying access to marriage to same-sex couples, violated the equal protection clause of the California Constitution. The superior court entered judgment in favor of the parties challenging the constitutionality of the marriage statutes.
On appeal, the Court of Appeal in a split decision reversed the superior court’s ruling, concluding that the superior court had erred in finding the marriage statutes unconstitutional. One appellate justice dissented from that holding.
On petition of the parties in the Marriage Cases, we granted review, subsequently receiving extensive briefing by the parties and by a large number of amici curiae.
During the period in which the Marriage Cases proceeding was pending in this court but before we issued our decision, individuals circulated for signature an initiative petition proposing the adoption of the constitutional initiative measure at issue in the present case — that is, the initiative measure ultimately designated as Proposition 8. As set forth in the initiative petition, the measure proposed to add one new section — section 7.5 — to article I of the California Constitution. The proposed new article I, section 7.5 read in full: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” As we have seen, these are the identical 14 words that were embodied in Proposition 22 and adopted as Family Code section 308.5 at the March 2000 election. The difference between the measure proposed by Proposition 8 and the one contained in Proposition 22 is that Proposition 8 proposed to add this language as a provision of the California Constitution, whereas by Proposition 22 this language had been adopted as a statutory provision. (A California statute, of course, is invalid if it conflicts with the governing provisions of the California Constitution.)
On May 15, 2008, prior to the date the Secretary of State certified that Proposition 8 had obtained sufficient valid signatures to qualify for the November 4, 2008 election ballot, this court issued its decision in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757. We shall discuss the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases in greater detail below in analyzing the scope and effect of Proposition 8 (see, post, at pp. 24-43), but at this juncture it is sufficient simply to point out that the majority concluded that (1) the constitutional “right to marry,” as embodied in the privacy and due process provisions of the California Constitution, is distinct from, and encompasses a much broader set of core elements than, the right to have one’s official family relationship designated as “marriage,” (2) same-sex couples, as well as opposite-sex couples, enjoy the full protection of, and all of the rights encompassed by, the state constitutional rights of privacy and due process, (3) statutes that treat persons differently on the basis of their sexual orientation, like statutes that accord differential treatment on the basis of race or gender, are constitutionally suspect and subject to “strict scrutiny” under the California equal protection clause, and (4) by affording access to the designation of “marriage” to opposite-sex couples but denying that access to same-sex couples, the California statutes limiting marriage to the union of a man and a woman impinged upon same-sex couples’ state constitutional rights of privacy and due process and violated such couples’ right to the equal protection of the laws as guaranteed by the state Constitution. The majority opinion further concluded that to remedy these constitutional violations, the California marriage statutes should be interpreted to grant both opposite-sex and same-sex couples access to the designation of marriage and to the rights inherent in that institution.
Disagreeing with these conclusions, Justice Baxter, in a concurring and dissenting opinion joined by Justice Chin, argued that the acceptance of same-sex marriage should be determined through the political process, and not by this court. By relegating to itself the authority to alter and recast the traditional definition of marriage, these justices urged, the majority had violated the separation of powers among the three branches of government.
In specific response to the majority’s analysis, Justices Baxter and Chin asserted that (1) it was unnecessary to decide whether same-sex couples had a fundamental state constitutional right to form legal unions with the substantive rights and benefits of marriage, because the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003 (Domestic Partner Act), adopted by the Legislature, already grants to those couples all of these substantive rights the state can provide; (2) because marriage universally has been defined and understood as a formal relationship between a man and a woman, the California Constitution could not be construed to afford same-sex couples a fundamental “right to marry” that requires official use of the name “marriage” for same-sex legal unions; and (3) use of the common term “marriage” for same-sex and opposite-sex legal unions was not required by the state Constitution’s equal protection clause.
On the last point, Justices Baxter and Chin reasoned that (1) same-sex and opposite-sex couples are not similarly situated in the context of statutes retaining the traditional definition of marriage; (2) sexual orientation is not a “suspect class” for state constitutional purposes; (3) state constitutional challenges to statutory distinctions on the basis of sexual orientation thus should be decided under the “rational basis” or “rational relationship” standard, not the “strict scrutiny” standard adopted by the majority; and (4) rational grounds existed for the decision of the Legislature and the people to retain the traditional definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.
In a separate concurring and dissenting opinion, Justice Corrigan wrote that the equal protection clause of the California Constitution affords same-sex couples a right to form legal unions with all the substantive benefits and responsibilities of marriage — a right fully implemented by the Domestic Partner Act. She concluded that equal protection principles do not require same-sex legal unions to be officially identified by the name “marriage,” even though — in her view — Californians should allow them to be so designated. Like Justices Baxter and Chin, Justice Corrigan reasoned that, in light of the age-old understanding of marriage as a relationship limited to that between a man and a woman, same-sex and opposite-sex couples are not similarly situated for the purpose of recognizing the availability of the label “marriage” to same-sex legal unions. Hence, she concluded, an equal protection challenge to such a statutory distinction must be rejected at the threshold. Justice Corrigan joined Justices Baxter and Chin in arguing that this court lacked authority to alter and recast the traditional definition of marriage, and that such a profound social change instead should be accomplished through the political process.
After this court issued its decision in the Marriage Cases, several parties filed a petition for rehearing, requesting that this court either grant rehearing or modify the opinion “to stay the effectiveness of its decision until after the Secretary of State compiles the result of the November 4, 2008, election.” The rehearing petition noted that the proponents of Proposition 8 already had submitted the voter-signed initiative petition to county election officials for review and verification of the submitted signatures, and that the verification process was then underway. The rehearing petition maintained that “f the voters approve the Marriage Initiative by a majority vote at the November 4, 2008 election, the language of the Marriage Initiative . . . will become part of the California Constitution” and would alter that Constitution “in a manner that will obviate the basis for the writ ordered in Court’s decision.” On June 2, 2008, the Secretary of State certified that Proposition 8 had obtained a sufficient number of valid signatures to appear on the November 4, 2008 general election ballot. On June 4, 2008, by majority vote, this court denied the petition for rehearing in the Marriage Cases; Justices Baxter, Chin, and Corrigan voted to grant rehearing. Our order indicated that the decision filed on May 15, 2008, would become final at 5:00 p.m. on June 16, 2008. The request to stay the effect of our decision was denied unanimously.
On June 20, 2008, shortly after the decision in the Marriage Cases became final, a petition was filed in this court, seeking the issuance of an original writ of mandate directing the Secretary of State not to include Proposition 8 on the election ballot to be voted upon at the November 4, 2008 election. (Bennett v. Bowen, S164520.) The petition contended, among other claims, that Proposition 8 embodied a constitutional revision rather than a constitutional amendment and for that reason could not lawfully be proposed by the initiative process. On July 16, 2008, this court summarily denied the petition.
Accordingly, Proposition 8 remained on the November 4, 2008 election ballot. The Attorney General prepared a title and summary of the proposition; the Legislative Analyst prepared an analysis of the measure; ballot arguments in favor of and against the proposition were submitted; and a ballot pamphlet containing these materials was compiled by the Secretary of State and was sent to all voters prior to the November 4, 2008 election. At that election, Proposition 8 was approved by a majority (52.3 percent) of the voters casting votes on the proposition. (See Cal. Sect. of State, Votes for and Against November 4, 2008 State Ballot Measures <http://www.ss.ca.gov> .) Pursuant to article XVIII, section 4 of the California Constitution, the measure took effect on November 5, 2008.
On November 5, 2008, the day following the election, three separate petitions for an original writ of mandate were filed in this court challenging the validity of Proposition 8. In Strauss v. Horton (S168047), petitioners — a number of same-sex couples who seek to marry notwithstanding the provisions of Proposition 8, along with Equality California (an organization whose members include numerous similarly situated same-sex couples throughout California) — seek a writ of mandate directing the relevant state officials to refrain from performing any act enforcing Proposition 8 and from instructing any other person or entity to enforce that measure, on the ground that Proposition 8 constitutes an invalid revision of the California Constitution. In Tyler v. State of California (S168066), petitioners — one same-sex couple who married in California prior to the adoption of Proposition 8 and one same-sex couple who want to marry notwithstanding Proposition 8 — seek similar relief, asserting both that Proposition 8 constitutes an impermissible constitutional revision and that Proposition 8 violates the separation of powers doctrine. In City and County of San Francisco v. Horton (S168078), petitioners — numerous California municipal entities and several same-sex couples who married in California prior to the adoption of Proposition 8 — also seek a writ of mandate directing state officials to refrain from implementing, enforcing, or applying Proposition 8, on the ground that this measure constitutes a constitutional revision, and further seek an order, in the event the court concludes that Proposition 8 is not unconstitutional, declaring that it operates prospectively only and does not invalidate existing marriages between same-sex couples. The petitions filed in the Strauss and Tyler cases also requested that we stay the operation of Proposition 8 pending our determination of these matters. On November 17, 2008, the official proponents of Proposition 8 filed a motion to intervene in all three cases.
On November 19, 2008, we issued an order to show cause in each of the three cases, granted the official proponents’ motion to intervene, and at the same time denied the requests to stay the operation of Proposition 8 pending our consideration of these cases. Our order listed three issues to be briefed and argued, and established an expedited briefing schedule.
The parties timely filed their briefs in this court, and we also have received numerous amici curiae briefs (63 in number, representing hundreds of institutions and individuals) on behalf of petitioners and of respondents. The cases were argued before this court on March 5, 2009, and after oral argument we filed an order consolidating the three cases for decision.
II
As already noted, the constitutional challenges to Proposition 8 that have been advanced in this proceeding require us to evaluate the changes in the California Constitution actually effected by the addition of the constitutional provision embodied in Proposition 8. In order to accurately identify those changes, it is necessary to review at some length the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757. As we shall see, that opinion resolved a number of distinct issues that bear directly on the meaning and scope of Proposition 8.
A
One of the questions presented in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, was the proper interpretation of the language embodied in Family Code section 308.5 — “nly marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California” — the statutory provision enacted in 2000 by the voters’ approval of Proposition 22. The petitioners in the Marriage Cases asserted that this language was intended and should be interpreted to apply only to marriages entered into in a jurisdiction other than California, but this court unanimously rejected that contention, concluding that the statutory language in question reasonably must be interpreted to apply to marriages performed in California as well as to those performed in other jurisdictions. (43 Cal.4th at pp. 796-801.) In light of that holding, and the background and “legislative” history of Proposition 8 contained in the ballot pamphlet materials relating to that measure, it is clear that the section added to the California Constitution by Proposition 8 — which contains language identical to that found in Family Code section 308.5 — applies both to marriages performed in California and to those performed in other jurisdictions.
B
The main contention raised by the petitioners in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, was that both Family Code section 308.5 and Family Code section 300 (“arriage is a personal relation arising out of a civil contract between a man and a woman”) violated the California Constitution. The petitioners argued that by limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples, the marriage statutes contravened both the state constitutional right to marry, as embodied in the privacy and due process clauses of the state Constitution (art. I, §§ 1, 7), and the state equal protection guarantee (art. I, § 7). The majority opinion initially addressed the state constitutional right to marry, discussing in considerable detail the meaning and scope of this right.
Analyzing, in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, 812, “the nature and substance of the interests protected by the constitutional right to marry,” the majority opinion first expressly “put to the side . . . the question whether the substantive rights embodied within the constitutional right to marry include the right to have the couple’s official relationship designated by the name ‘marriage’ rather than some other term, such as ‘domestic partnership,’ ” explaining that the latter issue would be addressed in a subsequent part of the opinion. (Ibid.)
The majority opinion then began its analysis of the state constitutional right to marry by reviewing numerous California cases that had discussed and applied this right. (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pp. 813-815.) The opinion concluded, after an assessment of the significant societal and individual interests underlying this right as reflected in those decisions (id. at pp. 815-818), that “ecause our cases make clear that the right to marry is an integral component of an individual’s interest in personal autonomy protected by the privacy provision of article I, section 1, and of the liberty interest protected by the due process clause of article I, section 7, . . . the right to marry — like the right to establish a home and raise children — has independent substantive content, and cannot properly be understood as simply the right to enter into such a relationship if (but only if) the Legislature chooses to establish and retain it.” (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pp. 818-819.)
The majority opinion then went on to discuss some of the substantive aspects of this constitutional right. “One very important aspect of the substantive protection afforded by the California constitutional right to marry is . . . an individual’s right to be free from undue governmental intrusion into (or interference with) integral features of this relationship — that is, the right of marital or familial privacy. The substantive protection embodied in the constitutional right to marry, however, goes beyond what is sometimes characterized as simply a ‘negative’ right insulating the couple’s relationship from overreaching governmental intrusion or interference, and includes a ‘positive’ right to have the state take at least some affirmative action to acknowledge and support the family unit. [] Although the constitutional right to marry clearly does not obligate the state to afford specific tax or other governmental benefits on the basis of a couple’s family relationship, the right to marry does obligate the state to take affirmative action to grant official, public recognition to the couple’s relationship as a family , as well as to protect the core elements of the family relationship from at least some types of improper interference by others. This constitutional right also has the additional affirmative substantive effect of providing assurance to each member of the relationship that the government will enforce the mutual obligations between the partners (and to their children) that are an important aspect of the commitments upon which the relationship rests.” (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pp. 819-820, fn. omitted.)
In summarizing this aspect of the decision, the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, explained that “under this state’s Constitution, the constitutionally based right to marry properly must be understood to encompass the core set of basic substantive legal rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage that are so integral to an individual’s liberty and personal autonomy that they may not be eliminated or abrogated by the Legislature or by the electorate through the statutory initiative process. These core substantive rights include, most fundamentally, the opportunity of an individual to establish — with the person with whom the individual has chosen to share his or her life — an officially recognized and protected family possessing mutual rights and responsibilities and entitled to the same respect and dignity accorded a union traditionally designated as marriage. . . . he substantive right of two adults who share a loving relationship to join together to establish an officially recognized family of their own — and, if the couple chooses, to raise children within that family — constitutes a vitally important attribute of the fundamental interest in liberty and personal autonomy that the California Constitution secures to all persons for the benefit of both the individual and society.” (43 Cal.4th at p. 781.)
After discussing the basic contours of the substantive elements encompassed within the state constitutional right to marry, the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, went on to explain that although “as an historical matter in this state marriage always has been limited to a union between a man and a woman” (id. at p. 820), “radition alone . . . generally has not been viewed as a sufficient justification for perpetuating, without examination, the restriction or denial of a fundamental constitutional right.” (Id. at pp. 820-821.) Observing that “in recent decades, there has been a fundamental and dramatic transformation in this state’s understanding and legal treatment of gay individuals and gay couples” resulting in a general recognition “that gay individuals are entitled to the same legal rights and the same respect and dignity afforded all other individuals and are protected from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation” (id. at pp. 821-822), the majority concluded in the Marriage Cases that “just as this court recognized in Perez that it was not constitutionally permissible to continue to treat racial or ethnic minorities as inferior , and in Sail’er Inn<, Inc. v. Kirby (1971) 5 Cal.3d 1> that it was not constitutionally acceptable to continue to treat women as less capable than and unequal to men , we now similarly recognize that an individual’s homosexual orientation is not a constitutionally legitimate basis for withholding or restricting the individual’s legal rights.” (43 Cal.4th at pp. 822-823.) The opinion continued: “In light of this recognition, sections 1 and 7 of article I of the California Constitution cannot properly be interpreted to withhold from gay individuals the same basic civil right of personal autonomy and liberty (including the right to establish, with the person of one’s choice, an officially recognized and sanctioned family) that the California Constitution affords to heterosexual individuals.” (Id. at p. 823.)
Subsequently, after discussing and rejecting numerous arguments that had been presented as justification for limiting the constitutional right to marry to opposite-sex couples only (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pp. 823-829), the majority opinion reiterated in clear and emphatic terms its holding on this aspect of the case: “e conclude that the right to marry, as embodied in article I, sections 1 and 7 of the California Constitution, guarantees same-sex couples the same substantive constitutional rights as opposite-sex couples to choose one’s life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized, and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage.” (Id. at p. 829, italics added.)
C
Having concluded that same-sex couples enjoy the same rights afforded by the state constitutional right to marry as opposite-sex couples, the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, turned to the issue that had been deferred earlier in the opinion — namely, whether the substantive rights embodied in the constitutional right to marry include the right to have one’s family relationship designated by the term “marriage.” The Attorney General argued that even if the state constitutional right to marry extends to same-sex couples, the marriage statutes did not violate the fundamental rights of same-sex couples by not making this designation available to them, “ ‘because all of the personal and dignitary interests that have traditionally informed the right to marry have been given to same-sex couples through the Domestic Partner Act.’ ” (Id. at p. 830.) The Attorney General asserted that “ ‘he fundamental right to marry can no more be the basis for same-sex couples to compel the state to denominate their committed relationships “marriage” than it could be the basis for anyone to prevent the state legislature from changing the name of the marital institution itself to “civil unions.” ’ ” (Ibid.)
In responding to the Attorney General’s argument, the majority opinion stated that “e have no occasion in this case to determine whether the state constitutional right to marry necessarily affords all couples the constitutional right to require the state to designate their official family relationship a ‘marriage,’ ” because “hether or not the name ‘marriage,’ in the abstract, is considered a core element of the state constitutional right to marry, one of the core elements of this fundamental right is the right of same-sex couples to have their official family relationship accorded the same dignity, respect, and stature as that accorded to all other officially recognized family relationships. The current statutes — by drawing a distinction between the name assigned to the family relationship available to opposite-sex couples and the name assigned to the family relationship available to same-sex couples, and by reserving the historic and highly respected designation of marriage exclusively to opposite-sex couples while offering same-sex couples only the new and unfamiliar designation of domestic partnership ― pose a serious risk of denying the official family relationship of same-sex couples the equal dignity and respect that is a core element of the constitutional right to marry.” (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pp. 830-831, italics added.)
Accordingly, although the majority opinion agreed with the Attorney General “that the provisions of the Domestic Partner Act afford same-sex couples most of the substantive attributes to which they are constitutionally entitled under the state constitutional right to marry” (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at p. 831), the opinion concluded its discussion of the state constitutional right to marry by determining that “the current statutory assignment of different designations to the official family relationship of opposite-sex couples and of same-sex couples properly must be viewed as potentially impinging upon the state constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry.” (Ibid.)
D
After describing the effect, upon the state constitutional right to marry, of the California statutes’ assignment of different designations to the family relationship of opposite-sex couples and the family relationship of same-sex couples, the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, turned to the petitioners’ claim that the use of different designations denied same-sex couples equal protection of the laws, as guaranteed by the state constitutional equal protection clause embodied in article I, section 7. In analyzing the equal protection claim, the opinion explained that the initial question to be resolved was the appropriate standard of review that should be applied in evaluating the difference in treatment accorded by the existing California statutes ― whether the standard should be the ordinary “rational basis” standard of review that applies in most cases or, alternatively, the “strict scrutiny” standard of review that applies to statutory schemes that involve “suspect classifications” or that impinge upon “fundamental rights.” (43 Cal.4th at pp. 831-833.)
In addressing the standard-of-review issue, the majority opinion first rejected the petitioners’ claim that the difference in treatment between opposite-sex and same-sex couples properly should be viewed as discrimination on the basis of the suspect classification of sex or gender (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, 833-838). The majority went on to conclude, however, (1) that the California statutes in question imposed differential treatment on the basis of sexual orientation (id. at pp. 839﷓840), and (2) that sexual orientation constitutes a suspect classification for purposes of California equal protection analysis (id. at pp. 840﷓843). Because the statutes accorded different treatment on the basis of the suspect classification of sexual orientation, the opinion held that these provisions must be evaluated under the strict scrutiny standard. (Id. at pp. 843-844.) Furthermore, the opinion held that the strict scrutiny standard was applicable under the California Constitution in this instance not only because the statutes accorded different treatment on the basis of sexual orientation, but also because, by assigning different family designations that created a significant risk the family relationship of same-sex couples would not be afforded the same respect and dignity as the family relationship of opposite-sex couples, the statutes impinged upon the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry. (43 Cal.4th at pp. 844-847.)
Having determined that strict scrutiny was the applicable standard of review, the majority opinion proceeded to apply the legal analysis dictated under that standard by considering whether the distinction between the designation of the family relationship of opposite-sex couples and that for same-sex couples served not only a constitutionally legitimate — but also a compelling — state interest, and, further, whether that difference in treatment not only was rationally related to but necessary to serve that interest. (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pp. 847-848.) After carefully reviewing the justifications for the strict scrutiny standard proffered by the state and other respondents in that case, the opinion concluded that the state interest in retaining the traditional definition of marriage does not constitute a state interest sufficiently compelling under the strict scrutiny standard to justify withholding that status from same-sex couples. The majority opinion consequently held that the provisions of Family Code sections 300 and 308.5 were unconstitutional insofar as they exclude same-sex couples from the designation of marriage. (43 Cal.4th at pp. 848﷓856.)
E
Finally, in determining the appropriate remedy in light of the constitutional conclusion it reached, the majority opinion held that the language of Family Code section 300 limiting the designation of marriage to a union “between a man and a woman” must be stricken from the statute and the remaining statutory language must be understood as making the designation of marriage available to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples, and that the provisions of section 308.5 could have no constitutionally permissible effect and could not stand. The opinion directed that a writ of mandate issue, instructing state officials to take all steps necessary to ensure that local officials throughout the state, in performing their duty to enforce the marriage statutes, applied those provisions in a manner consistent with the decision. (Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pp. 856-857.)
F
Having carefully reviewed the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, we assess the actual scope of Proposition 8 against the background of that opinion.
1
First, as we already have noted, in light of the interpretation of the language of Proposition 22 in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th at pages 796-800, as well as the history of Proposition 8 itself, there is no question but that article I, section 7.5 ― the section added by Proposition 8 to the California Constitution ― properly must be interpreted to apply both to marriages performed in California and to marriages performed in other jurisdictions.
2
Second, we consider the effect that Proposition 8 has on the “constitutional right to marry” as that right is discussed and analyzed in the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757, 809-831. As we have seen, the opinion explained that this right constitutes one aspect of the right of privacy embodied in article I, section 1 of the California Constitution, as well as a component of the liberty protected by the due process clause of article I, section 7 of the California Constitution (43 Cal.4th at pp. 809-810, 818-819), and encompasses “the core set of basic substantive legal rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage,” including, “most fundamentally, the opportunity of an individual to establish — with the person with whom the individual has chosen to share his or her life — an officially recognized and protected family possessing mutual rights and responsibilities and entitled to the same respect and dignity accorded a union traditionally designated as marriage.” (Id. at p. 781.) Although the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases generally referred to this state constitutional right as the “constitutional right to marry,” at the same time that opinion explained that this constitutional right is distinct from the right to have one’s family relationship designated by the term “marriage.” (Id. at pp. 812, 830-831.) Because in common speech the term “right to marry” is most often used and understood to refer to an individual’s right to enter into the official relationship designated “marriage,” and in order to minimize potential confusion in the future, instead of referring to this aspect of the state constitutional rights of privacy and due process as “the constitutional right to marry,” hereafter in this opinion we shall refer to this constitutional right by the more general descriptive terminology used in the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases — namely, the constitutional right to establish, with the person of one’s choice, an officially recognized and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage (or, more briefly, the constitutional right to establish an officially recognized family relationship with the person of one’s choice).
What effect does Proposition 8 have on this aspect of the state constitutional rights of privacy and due process as set forth in the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757? Although the new constitutional section added by Proposition 8 — article I, section 7.5 — does not explicitly purport to amend either the privacy or due process provisions of the California Constitution, our past cases make clear that this newly adopted provision must be understood as carving out an exception to the preexisting scope of the privacy and due process clauses with respect to the particular subject matter encompassed by the new provision.
The case of Bowens v. Superior Court (1991) 1 Cal.4th 36 (Bowens) illustrates this point. In Bowens, our court considered the effect of a then-newly adopted constitutional provision — article I, section 14.1 — that abrogated an indicted criminal defendant’s right to a postindictment preliminary hearing, a right that this court, in Hawkins v. Superior Court (1978) 22 Cal.3d 584, 587-593, had held must be afforded to such an individual by virtue of the equal protection clause of the state Constitution. The new article I, section 14.1 provided simply that “f a felony is prosecuted by indictment, there shall be no postindictment preliminary hearing,” and made no s