An appeal hearing on California's Proposition 8 case will likely not be held until early 2011, according to a briefing schedule posted today by a federal appeals court in San Francisco.

Sponsors of the proposition are appealing a ruling in which U.S District Judge Vaughn Walker on Wednesday struck down the voter-approved same-sex marriage ban. A notice of appeal was filed minutes after Walker's ruling.

The briefing schedule, which was announced by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, does not set a date for hearing the appeal but provides for the final written brief to be filed in late December, suggesting a hearing will not be held until next year.