SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Backers of California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule a federal appeals court that struck down the measure as unconstitutional.
Lawyers for the coalition of religious conservative groups that sponsored the ban, known as Proposition 8, petitioned the Supreme Court Tuesday to review the lower court's finding that the 2008 amendment to the constitution violated the civil rights of gay and lesbian Californians.
The move had been expected since a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its 2-1 decision earlier this year.
If the high court declines to take the case, it would clear the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California. Gay couples could get married in the state for several months before Proposition 8 passed.