California ruling helped Iowa OK gay marriage
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San Francisco Chronicle : But while same-sex couples and their advocates in California celebrated the 7-0 Iowa Supreme Court decision, the ruling is unlikely to affect the issue now before the California Supreme Court: whether voters have the power to amend the state Constitution to return the definition of marriage to a union of a man and a woman, a restriction that the court ruled unconstitutional in May. The California court is scheduled to rule within the next two months on the validity of Proposition 8, approved by voters in November. At a March 5 hearing on the case, two justices who were part of the 4-3 majority in last year's ruling strongly indicated that they believe the people have the authority to overrule them.
... Excluding a group from marriage merely because of long-standing custom "can allow discrimination to become acceptable as tradition," said Justice Mark Cady, one of two Republican appointees on the court. Claims that children are better off with opposite-sex parents are scientifically unproven, he said, and, even if true, would not be served by denying marriage to same-sex couples who are already raising children. ... The ruling illuminated a difference in the political structures of the two states: Iowans, unlike Californians, cannot amend the state Constitution by initiative, but will vote on the issue only if their Legislature passes a repeal measure in two consecutive sessions. The prospects for such a ballot measure seemed to diminish when the leaders of the Democratic majorities in both houses issued a joint statement praising the ruling. "This will fuel the view that many people have that (California's) proposition process has gotten out of hand," said Joel Paul, a constitutional law professor at UC Hastings in San Francisco. "Other states don't do it this way," he said. "It makes a mockery of constitutional law to have it turned into a regular election issue."
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