Dear Marriage Supporter,

Tomorrow afternoon beginning at 2:30 pm PT / 5:30 pm ET, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will be hearing oral arguments on California's Proposition 8.

The three-judge panel, while continuing to deliberate on the constitutionality of Prop 8, will additionally be hearing oral arguments on whether Judge Walker broke the law when he allowed the public release of videotapes of the original Prop 8 trial and whether Judge Walker's decision to overturn Prop 8 should be reversed because he was involved in a same-sex relationship at the time.

Ruth Institute Founder and President, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse will be in the courtroom providing live updates via the NOM blog and Twitter (follow us @NOMtweets).

Check the blog tomorrow afternoon and on Friday for updates to get a full report on the proceedings.

The path to this point has been circuitous to say the least...last December the court heard arguments on the case's merits, but because Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris have refused to defend the law, in January the 9th Circuit asked the California Supreme Court to decide whether the Protect Marriage coalition had legal standing to defend Prop 8.

Just last month, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Prop 8 proponents did have standing in the case. The 9th Circuit will now take the California Supreme Court's unanimous decision on the standing question into consideration in their deliberations.

Please follow along with us on the NOM blog and on Twitter as we continue to uphold and defend the people's right to protect marriage at the ballot box and in our nation's highest courts.

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

Dear Marriage Supporter,

In a huge victory for NOM and supporters of Proposition 8, the California Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the proponents of the initiative have the legal right to defend the initiative in court.

This is a major victory for the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund and the lead Prop 8 attorney, Chuck Cooper.

Had the Supreme Court not agreed with the backers of Prop 8 that the Proponents have the legal standing to defend the initiative, it is very likely that the ruling of a rogue judge that overturned Prop 8 would have gone unchallenged. This is because Governor Jerry Brown, his predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Kamala Harris have shamefully refused to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to defend the marriage initiative in court, despite it being passed with the support of over 7 million California voters.

NOM was the largest contributor to putting Prop 8 on the ballot and has given $300,000 to help defend it in court.

Now the hard work begins. The constitutionality of Prop 8 has already been argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which requested the California Supreme Court to determine if state law gave the proponents the right to defend the measure on appeal. Presuming the Ninth Circuit accepts the answer it got today that the proponents DO have standing, they will issue their ruling determining whether the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman violates the US Constitution.

It's almost crazy to say this out loud — that somehow the core institution of society, marriage as the union of a man and a woman, violates our federal constitution. Yet that is what the lower court judge, Vaughn Walker, determined. Walker is the rogue San Francisco federal justice who has been in a long term homosexual relationship.

We'll be candid — we don't hold out a lot of hope of upholding Prop 8 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Remember, this court is noted for their extreme liberalism and is the most overturned court in America. But whatever ruling the Ninth Circuit issues will speed this case to the US Supreme Court, where we can finally get a ruling on the merits.

NOM is confident that we will win this case when it gets to the United States Supreme Court. But there is a huge challenge we must help meet first – money.

The good news is that supporters of Proposition 8 have secured the right to defend the intiative. The bad news is that this will cost millions of dollars—money that we don't have. We urgently need your help.

We are already fighting on so many fronts—trying to defeat efforts in Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, fighting to get the people of Iowa and New York the right to vote on an amendment, and working in countless state legislatures, like New Hampshire, Maryland, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

But defending one of our greatest accomplishments, the passage of Proposition 8 in California, cannot take a back seat to our current challenges. Somehow, we must do both.

This is the case that could become the Roe v. Wade of marriage. Imagine the damage to the gay marriage movement when the US Supreme Court rules definitively that the US Constitution does NOT contain a right to same-sex marriage! This case could become the pivotal moment in the entire battle.

NOM is only one part of the coalition working to fund the legal defense of the initiative in court. But we have an important part to play. We've already given $300,000 to the defense effort, but that is just a small fraction of the overall cost. Our opponents have unlimited resources from billionaires in Hollywood and on Wall Street. We must rely on the generosity of donors like you.

Would you please make a sacrificial gift today to help defend Proposition 8 in court? Everything you give will be used to support the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund. Every penny. We hope to be able to free up other resources to add to what you can give.

Chuck Cooper and his legal team have won a major victory for marriage. Now it is up to us to make sure that we take advantage of the opportunity we've won. Please, help us preserve marriage by contributing today.

Faithfully,

Brian S. Brown
Executive Director
NOM Education Fund