Prop 8 Backers Want Federal Case Dismissed, Judge to Hear Arguments Today

From a protest last year after Prop 8 was approved by voters | AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

The fourth hearing over a pending federal court case challenging the legality of Prop 8, which banned gay marriage in California, will take place in San Francisco today. Backers of the ban are asking U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker to dismiss the challenge because the law is clearly written and, get this, "there is no constitutional right for gays and lesbians to marry because marriage has long been defined as a union between a man and a woman," according to the LA Times.

This summer, Walker indicated that he believes the case should go to trial in January. "Given that serious questions are raised in these proceedings ... the court is inclined to proceed directly and expeditiously to the merits of plaintiffs' claims," wrote Walker. "The just, speedy and inexpensive determination of these issues would appear to call for proceeding promptly to trial.”

The two lawyers, who are representing two gay couples, previously fought against each other in the Bush Vs. Gore presidential election case in 2000.