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Flash: Proposition 8 Ruled Unconstitutional by 9th Circuit

By Julia Cheever (BCN)
Tuesday February 07, 2012 - 10:55:00 AM

A federal appeals court in San Francisco today ruled that Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional. 

The 2-1 ruling was issued this morning by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco by two same-sex couples in 2009. 

Proposition 8 was approved by state voters in 2008. Its sponsors appealed to the 9th Circuit after U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled in 2010 that the measure was unconstitutional. 

Today's decision can be appealed further to an expanded 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit and to the U.S. Supreme Court.