If the appeals court and the Supreme Court deny standing, they could toss out Prop. 8 without deciding whether it violates the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians to choose a marital partner, as Walker concluded. But that's where the plot thickens.

According to UC Irvine law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, a liberal scholar who opposes Prop. 8, Cooley -- if elected -- could then go back to the trial court and move to reopen the case.

The procedure is called Rule 60(b) and it's designed for cases in which a ruling was the product of clerical errors, other mistakes or fraud, or when newly discovered evidence casts doubt on the verdict. But Chemerinsky said a new attorney general could argue that he has evidence for the validity of Prop. 8 that wasn't presented at trial.

The motion wouldn't go to Walker, who's retiring from the bench in February, but to another Bay Area federal judge selected by random draw. And if that judge decided to reopen the case, we could be back at square one.