Bush vs. Gore rivals challenge Prop. 8 in federal court

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/bush-v-gore-rivals-challenge-prop-8-in-federal-court.html

Two prominent attorneys who argued on opposite sides of Bush vs. Gore, the legal battle over the 2000 presidential election, announced Tuesday that they will challenge Proposition 8 in federal court and seek to restore gay marriage until the case is decided.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, who represented then-Vice President Al Gore in the contested election, have joined forces to tackle the same-sex marriage issue, which has deeply divided Californians and left 18,000 gay couples married last year in legal isolation.

In a project of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, Olson and Boies have united to represent two same-sex couples filing suit after being denied marriage licenses because of Proposition 8.

Their suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court in California, calls for an injunction against the proposition, allowing immediate reinstatement of marriage rights for same-sex couples.




Prop. 8 Challenge Filed in Federal Court
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid86253.asp
(snip)
Olson said he was contacted several months ago by representatives of an association called the American Foundation for Equal Rights about his willingness to represent the two couples named in the suit.

“For a long time I’ve personally felt that we are doing a grave injustice for people throughout this country by denying equality to gay and lesbian individuals,” Olson said in an interview with The Advocate. “The individuals that we represent and will be representing in this case feel they’re being denied their rights. And they’re entitled to have a court vindicate those rights.”

When pressed about his service with the Bush administration, which in 2004 endorsed an amendment to the U.S. constitution that would prohibit same-sex marriage, Olson said he was personally against the amendment at the time, though he made no public statements on the matter.

As for the timing of the suit, Olson said that recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court “make it clear that individuals are entitled to be treated equally under the Constitution. I’m reasonably confident that this is the right time for these to be vindicated.”

Olson, Boies, and other attorneys working on the suit are being compensated by the American Foundation for Equal Rights, Olson said his law firm and others also are contributing resources pro bono. As of press time, no website could be found for the newly formed organization. Olson and his representatives declined to specify who was funding the campaign.

never trust a bushco henchman.

Msongs

beginning of the end of this shit. It's all over. I hope that this is the beginning of the end of the god damn
laws by "proposition" that have all but destroyed the whole god damn state.

I asked google, and a facebook page popped up first.

WTF!?

Lower down on the page is the official tube, but all it has is links to the facebook page and their twitter crap.

Am I getting too old for this? What happened to the old fashioned web pages?

Former Bush lawyer sues to overturn Prop 8
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/05/26/boies_olson/index.html

Same-sex marriage makes strange bedfellows. Like Theodore Olson and David Boies, whose most famous encounter to date is Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court case that decided the 2000 election. Olson was on the winning side, and went on to become solicitor general under the man he helped make president of the United States. Now the two men are on the same side of the law as counsel for plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn California's Proposition 8. The suit appears intended to get Olson and Boies back before the U.S. Supreme Court, this time to argue that restrictions on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional.

Along with other attorneys from their respective firms, Olson and Boies are representing two California couples -- one made up of two men, the other of two women -- who are suing state officials. They were enlisted for the effort by a new organization called the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is holding a press conference on Wednesday to officially announce the suit.

So far, the group is keeping mostly mum on the case, waiting until after the press conference, but the Associated Press reports that Olson hopes it will go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Judging from the complaint, which can be downloaded in PDF form here, it appears that means the suit is intended to get the high court to rule on the constitutionality of restrictions on same-sex marriage around the country. (The suit itself is specifically about California and Prop 8, but the U.S. District Court in which it was filed only has jurisdiction in California; the case will have to get to a higher level before its resolution will have a broader impact.)

The complaint was filed on May 22, before the California Supreme Court's ruling that upheld Prop 8 was announced.


The announcement will be broadcast live online at www.equalrightsfoundation.org.
http://laist.com/2009/05/26/bush_vs_gore_attorneys_team_up_to_f.php

Whois is your friend. And it appears we may just have a fairy godfather (no pun intended) who is behind, or at least intimately involved, with the newly-sprung website/organization, "American Foundation for Equal Rights"

AFER's website is registered to Chad Griffin of Griffin Schake (on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Los-Angeles-CA/Griffin-Schake/44167760874 )

Google "Griffin Schake" and you will be pleasantly surprised. Chad Griffin, a democratric politico, was one of Advocate mag's "People of the Year" in 2008; Griffin was also executive producer on Kirby Dick's documentary, "Outrage." Griffin's agency is also behind the long-running and highly successful California anti-smoking PSA/ad campaign.

"Chad joins Tina Fey, Al Gore, Gus Van Sant, Olympic Gold Medalist Matthew Mitcham, Barney Frank, and the Obamas among the 20 Americans who had the greatest impact on gay rights in 2008.
Griffin helped at the tail end of the No on Prop 8 campaign, helping bring in heavy hitters from Hollywood and boosting the campaign's war chest."

AFER also has a facebook page at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Foundation-for-Equal-Rights/89182346346

I'm beginning to feel hope...