9th Circuit Issues Stay On Perry; Expedites Appeal

Today, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, a.k.a. "The Prop 8 case" which means that same-sex couples will not be marrying in California any time soon.The decision overturn's Judge Vaughn Walker's denial of a stay last Thursday of his previous landmark decision issued last Thursday. The 9th Circuit also set an expedited schedule for the court, setting a trial date for the week of December 6th, 2010.

Here's the order at the special website the 9th circuit has set up for the case:

“Appellants’ motion for a stay of the district court’s order of August 4, 2010 pending appeal is GRANTED. The court sua sponte orders that this appeal be expedited pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 2. The provisions of Ninth Circuit Rule 31-2.2(a) (pertaining to grants of time extensions) shall not apply to this appeal. This appeal shall be calendared during the week of December 6, 2010, at The James R. Browning Courthouse in San Francisco, California.

The previously established briefing schedule is vacated. The opening brief is now due September 17, 2010. The answering brief is due October 18, 2010. The reply brief is due November 1, 2010. In addition to any issues appellants wish to raise on appeal, appellants are directed to include in their opening brief a discussion of why this appeal should not be dismissed for lack of Article III standing. See Arizonans For Official English v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43, 66 (1997).

IT IS SO ORDERED.

There are several significant part of this one-page ruling. 1) Having a federal appellate trial less than 4 months away is incredibly fast for appellate litigation. The Prop 8 proponents have to file their brief by September 17th (1 month away) and our side a month after that and then the bad guys get to respond two weeks later and then oral arguments commence two weeks after that. There is no time frame as to how long after oral arguments the 9th Circuit will issue its ruling,, but it is signalling that it wants to dispose of the case quickly. 2) The last sentence asking for a discussion (see students, it's an essay prompt!) about why the appeal should not be dismissed for lack of standing is also a plus on our side.