Petition to Mandate California Governor File an Appeal in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (Proposition 8) Decision

UPDATE: THE PETITION HAS BEEN DENIED.  Brief Order here.

The possibility that the "proponents" of Proposition 8 who participated in the trial but may nevertheless lack standing to appeal has provoked a petition in state court to require the  Governor or the Attorney General to appeal.

The petition and supporting memorandum in Beckley v. Schwarzenegger, filed in a California state appellate court, seeks an alternative writ of mandamus to compel Governor Schwarzenegger (pictured right) and State Attorney General Jerry Brown to file a notice of appeal by the deadline of September 11, 2010.  

The petition argues that under state law and the state constitution, the defendants have a duty to defend Proposition 8.  The petition argues that defending a law challenged on the basis of its constitutionality is required, unlike the decision whether or not to enforce a law.  The petition also contends that filing a notice of appeal is a "ministerial" duty that cannot be evaded and is subject to a writ of mandamus.

The memorandum argues that the failure to perform the "minimal acts necessary" to ensure jurisdiction in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is tantamount to a "constructive pocket veto" of a constitutional amendment, which "does violence to the State's constitutional form of government."   This, the petition alleges, is "taking on a power which violates the social contract between the people and the governed, memorialized in the Constitution."  (Petition and Memo, at 27). 

RR