Kenneth Starr files brief in response to California Attorney General Jerry Brown, declaring Brown's position "utterly without foundation"

01/06/09 The Recorder and 01/06/09 San Francisco Daily Journal (subscription required): In their brief on behalf of the Yes on 8 Campaign, Kenneth Starr and Andrew Pugno claim that "[t]he attorney general is inviting [the California Supreme] court to declare a constitutional revolution," based on an "extra-constitutional vision" that is "utterly without foundation" in California case law. If the Court can prevent voters from abridging fundamental, constitutional rights without compelling justification, then the Court would become "a judicial oligarchy," arrogating to itself "a sweeping power vested in the least-democratic branch that overrides the precious right of the people to determine how they will be governed ... The creation of such a judicial oligarchy would constitute a profound revision of the California Constitution."

01/05/09 Christian Newswire and PR Newswire: Newswire services carry the Yes on 8 Campaign's press release. Initial news reports appear to be quoting passages from the brief that the press release highlights.

01/06/09 LA Times:

Santa Clara University Law professor Gerald Uelmen, an expert on the state high court, said [the brief] "hits the nail on the head."

"If you think of the Constitution as a compact between the people and those who govern us, to say the people have no power to amend a court's ruling simply because the court . . . says this is an inalienable right -- I think that is pretty far out."

01/06/09 SF Chronicle: "If the (initiative) process is done correctly, once the Constitution is changed, that's the document the judges work from," Pugno said in an interview. "This would put the court above the reach of the people when it came to amending the Constitution."

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