Dean Johnson Signs Brief Supporting Prop. 8 Challenge

Dean Kevin R. Johnson is one of 21 distinguished legal scholars to have signed an amicus brief challenging Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban passed by California voters in November. 

The brief, submitted to the California Supreme Court on January 15 in support of persons seeking to declare the measure invalid, describes Prop. 8 as "the first time the California initiative process has been wielded to abolish a fundamental freedom for an unpopular minority group" and an attempt "to breach some of the most elemental textural and structural promises of our state Constitution."  The court should act to nullify the marriage ban, the brief argues, because "such sweeping change in fundamental constitutional principles cannot be made by way of a simple majority vote."

Kevin R. Johnson is dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.