Court Rejects Conservative Group's Proposition 8 Suit

The 3rd District Court of Appeal rejected a lawsuit by the Pacific Justice Institute on Thursday that had attempted to force Gov. Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown to appeal Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling on Proposition 8.

In early August, Walker ruled that Proposition 8, a voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, was unconstitutional.

The state has until Sept. 11 to challenge Walker's ruling. Both Brown and Schwarzenegger have said they don't plan an appeal, according to the Associated Press.

"The court ruled properly in rejecting the outrageous attempt by anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender extremists to force the governor and attorney general to defend an unconstitutional law," Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors said in a statement.

"Each step in the legal process is bringing us closer to the day when equality will return to California and same-sex couples and their families are treated with dignity and respect under the law," Kors said.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has granted a stay in the Proposition 8 case and has barred same-sex marriages in California until at least Dec. 6 as it considers an appeal of a lower-court decision that found the ban unconstitutional.