This morning, in a 5-4 decision, the DC Court of Appeals upheld the decision by the Board of Elections and Ethics to not allow a ballot initiative on the recently enacted same-sex marriage law here in the city. Local homophobe majordomo Bishop Harry Jackson and his cohorts filed a lawsuit arguing the matter should be put to a vote, but courtesy of a 1977 law, the Human Rights Act, banning civil rights from being put to a majority public vote, the measure stayed off (would it were that every state in the union had such a law).
[W]e ... affirm the Superior Court's rulings that the Council acted lawfully in imposing the Human Rights Act safeguard and that the Board correctly determined that the safeguard required it to reject the proposed initiative. As we go on to explain, we reach this result because (1) resolution of this appeal turns on what legislative authority the Council intended to share with the people of the District of Columbia when it passed the Charter Amendments Act (the "CAA"); (2) the Human Rights Act safeguard is not inconsistent with the Council's intent as conveyed by the language of the CAA; (3) this court owes substantial deference to the Council's legislative interpretation that the Human Rights Act safeguard carries out the intent of the CAA; (4) the relevant history convinces us that the Council could not have intended to authorize, as a proper subject of initiative, any initiative that would have the effect of authorizing discrimination prohibited by the Human Rights Act; (5) the Home Rule Act gave the Council authority to direct the Board, through the legislation that the Council passed to implement the CAA, to refuse to accept an initiative that would authorize prohibited discrimination; and (6) the Board correctly determined that the proposed initiative would have the effect of authorizing such discrimination. On the last of these points, our court is unanimous.
Although a 5-4 decision, the last two sentences are notable. Full text of the decision can be found here.
I'm on and off throughout the day, but will update with next steps, if any, as it becomes available.
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