PROPOSITION 8's FIGHTIN WORDS

"Equal protection" is "by its nature, inherently countermajoritarian."

"It cannot depend on the will of the majority for its enforcement, for it is the will of the majority against which the equal protection clause is designed to protect...Proposition 8 represents an unprecedented instance of a majority of voters altering the meaning of the equal protection clause by modifying the California Constitution to require deprivation of a fundamental right on the basis of a suspect classification. The majority's holding is not just a defeat for same-sex couples, but for any minority group that seeks the protection of the equal protection clause."

Justice Carlos R. Moreno