Same-sex marriage has been legal in California since June 28,2013. The U.S. state first issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples on June 16,2008 as a result of the Supreme Court of California finding in the case of In re Marriage Cases that barring same-sex couples from marriage violated the Constitution of California. The issuance of such licenses was halted from November 5,2008 through June 27,2013 due to the passage of Proposition 8—a state constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriages. The granting of same-sex marriages recommenced following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hollingsworth v. Perry,which restored the effect of a federal district court ruling that overturned Proposition 8 as unconstitutional.
Carol Ann Corrigan is an associate justice of the California Supreme Court.
Ming William Chin is an American attorney and former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California,serving from March 1,1996 to August 31,2020.
Proposition 8,known informally as Prop 8,was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage;it passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned in court. The proposition was created by opponents of same-sex marriage in advance of the California Supreme Court's May 2008 appeal ruling,In re Marriage Cases,which followed the short-lived 2004 same-sex weddings controversy and found the previous ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Proposition 8 was ultimately ruled unconstitutional by a federal court in 2010,although the court decision did not go into effect until June 26,2013,following the conclusion of proponents' appeals.
Vaughn Richard Walker is an American lawyer who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 1989 to 2011. Walker presided over the original trial in Hollingsworth v. Perry,where he found California's Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional.
Hollingsworth v. Perry was a series of United States federal court cases that re-legalized same-sex marriage in the state of California. The case began in 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California,which found that banning same-sex marriage violates equal protection under the law. This decision overturned California ballot initiative Proposition 8,which had banned same-sex marriage. After the State of California refused to defend Proposition 8,the official sponsors of Proposition 8 intervened and appealed to the Supreme Court. The case was litigated during the governorships of both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown,and was thus known as Perry v. Schwarzenegger and Perry v. Brown,respectively. As Hollingsworth v. Perry,it eventually reached the United States Supreme Court,which held that,in line with prior precedent,the official sponsors of a ballot initiative measure did not have Article III standing to appeal an adverse federal court ruling when the state refused to do so.
Edward Milton Chen is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and former United States magistrate judge of the same court.
Goodwin Hon Liu is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. Before his appointment by California Governor Jerry Brown,Liu was Associate Dean and Professor of Law at the University of California,Berkeley School of Law. Liu has been recognized for his writing on constitutional law,education policy,civil rights,and the Supreme Court.
Lucy Haeran Koh is an American lawyer serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Koh previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 2010 to 2021. She also served as a California state court judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court from 2008 to 2010. She is the first Korean American woman to serve on a federal appellate court in the United States.
Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye is an American lawyer and jurist who was the 28th Chief Justice of California and is the president/CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. She was nominated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve as chief justice on July 22,2010,and retained in office by California voters on November 2,2010,she was sworn in on January 3,2011 as California's first Filipino and first woman of color to serve as California's Chief Justice. Prior to her appointment as chief justice,Cantil-Sakauye had served in judicial offices on California's appellate and trial courts. On July 27,2022,she announced she would retire and not run for another 12 year term on the court in November and step down on January 1,2023,leaving Governor Newsom to appoint her replacement. On September 28,2022,the Public Policy Institute of California announced that Cantil-Sakauye would become its president and chief executive officer,effective January 1,2023. On September 21,2023,the Judicial Council of California voted unanimously to name the new Sacramento County courthouse after former Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.
Jon Steven Tigar is an American lawyer serving as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. He was previously a California state court judge on the Alameda County Superior Court from 2002 to 2013.
James M. Humes,commonly known as Jim Humes,is an American lawyer from San Francisco,California. On November 21,2012,governor Jerry Brown appointed Humes to the First District Court of Appeal,making Humes the first openly gay appellate judge in California history. He currently serves as presiding justice of the court's first division.
Daniel Paul Collins is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Patricia Guerrero is an American judge who is the 29th Chief Justice of California and served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from March 2022 through December 2022. Guerrero was previously an associate justice of the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District,Division One from 2017 to 2022,a judge on the San Diego County Superior Court from 2013 to 2017 and an assistant U.S. attorney in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California from 2002 to 2003. On August 10,2022,Guerrero was nominated to the position of Chief Justice of California by Governor Gavin Newsom. She is a Democrat.
Kelli Evans is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. She previously served as a judge of the Alameda County Superior Court.
Victor A. Rodriguez is an American state court judge who serves as a judge of the California Courts of Appeal for the First Appellate District,Division Three.
