Vikram Amar and Alan Brownstein: The California Attorney General’s Brief in the California Supreme Court Case Challenging Proposition 8

1/2/09 Findlaw's Writ: This is the fourth article in a multi-part series on the legal challenges to Prop. 8. Vikram Amar and Alan Brownstein, UC Davis Law Professors and constitutional scholars, find that

"[t]he Attorney General's is not an argument within the 'box' of state constitutional case law. Rather, it is an invitation to the [California Supreme] court to step outside of the box entirely and ask some foundational questions about the purpose and meaning of a state constitution."

If a constitution should protect a minority from the "tyranny of the majority," then California's constitution should provide a more rigorous standard of amendment. Amar and Brownstein believe that strengthening the amendment process need not compromise the popular sovereignity basis of California's constitution. "[T]here is a lot of room for experimentation."