In his statement about the proposed stay of Judge Walker's ruling, Steve Cooley, the Republican candidate for California AG, is misrepresenting the earlier holding of the California Supreme Court when he says that the court "upheld Proposition 8 by a 6 to 1 vote and declared it to be constitutional."

In that first round of legal challenges to Proposition 8, the California Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of Prop 8 under any provision of the U.S. Constitution. It was asked to decide only one question -- whether state law permits a ballot initiative to be used in putting the fundamental rights of a protected minority up for popular vote. Appallingly, the California Supreme Court said that such a use of the ballot was no problem. But that had nothing to do with any of the constitutional issues that Judge Walker ruled on this week.

Either Cooley does not understand the law or he is deliberately misleading people about its content. Neither speaks particularly well of someone running to be the State's chief law enforcement officer.

Kamala Harris, in contrast, has a long track record of supporting marriage equality, and her understanding of the legal and constitutional issues has always been sharp.