8 August 2008
A California judge doesn’t think so.
Judge Timothy Frawley ruled today that the ballot title Proposition 8, an attempt to change the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage, that was suggested by State Attorney General Jerry Brown was valid. Brown’s summary description of the proposition, which would appear on the ballot this November is “Eliminates the Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.”
Supporters of the proposition wanted the title of “Limit on Marriage” and claimed that Brown’s title was argumentative, misleading, and prejudicial because it was a negative, active, and transitive word.
In his decision, Frawley ruled, “there is nothing inherently argumentative or prejudicial about transitive verbs, and the Court is not willing to fashion a rule that would require the Attorney General to engage in useless nominalization.”
The supporters of the proposition plan to file an appeal, but the ballots must go to the printer by close of business on Monday and there isn’t much time.
The San Jose Mercury News has the full story.
[A nod to Benjamin Barrett of ADS-L for pointing the article out.]
