UPDATE

Court: Calif. gay-marriage ban unconstitutional

Posted: Feb 7, 2012 2:16 PM

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 - a response to an earlier state court decision that legalized gay marriage - was a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians.

However, the appeals court said gay marriages cannot resume in the state until the deadline passes for Proposition 8 sponsors to appeal to a larger panel of the 9th Circuit. If such an appeal is filed, the panel's ruling would remain on hold until it's resolved.

"Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples," states the opinion written by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, one of the court's most liberal judges.

More than 50 people who gathered outside the federal courthouse in downtown San Francisco greeted the ruling with cheers. They held signs and waved rainbow flags.

The Supreme Court would be the place for this legal battle to finally be resolved, CBS News senior legal analyst Andrew Cohen said.

"On the merits, you have this conflict still between and among the judges over how far a state can go with limiting same-sex marriage," said Cohen. "Two judges said you can't go very far, and one judge said that you could, and I think that's an issue, a conflict, that's only going to get resolved in Washington at the Supreme Court."

Backers of Proposition 8 said they would ask the Supreme Court to overturn the 9th Circuit ruling, which came more than a year after the appeals court panel heard arguments in the case.

"We are not surprised that this Hollywood-orchestrated attack on marriage - tried in San Francisco - turned out this way. But we are confident that the expressed will of the American people in favor of marriage will be upheld at the Supreme Court," said Brian Raum, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal aid group based in Arizona that helped defend Proposition 8.

Supporters of gay marriage hailed the ruling. American Foundation for Equal Rights President Chad Griffin, who formed the group along with director Rob Reiner to wage the court fight against Proposition 8, called the panel's decision "a historic victory."

"The message it sends to young LGBT people, not only here in California but across the country, (is) that you can't strip away a fundamental right," Griffin said.

People took to Twitter to react to the ruling.