The court's docket as of Friday evening showed that 60 friend-of-the-court briefs had been filed by the Jan. 15 deadline, including 17 supporting Proposition 8 and 43 arguing it should be overturned.

A court clerk said that number was close to the final total, but that one or two more briefs might remain to be docketed.

The number is even more than the 45 friend-of-the-court briefs filed in an earlier case in which the court ruled by a 4-3 vote in May that the state constitution provides a right to same-sex marriage. Proposition 8 overturned that ruling.

Some of last week's briefs were filed on behalf of dozens of organizations or individuals, bringing the total number of voices represented to several hundred.

Some 75 civil rights groups and local bar associations joined in two briefs and more than 50 labor groups in a third brief asking the court to strike down Proposition 8.