With less than a day before the deadline runs out, openly gay Congressman Mark Takano again urged President Obama to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging the court to rule California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional. And he is optimistic, even with the narrowing window of time, that the president will act.
Takano, a Japanese-American educator representing Riverside, Calif., was elected in 2012, becoming the first openly gay person of color elected to Congress.
“I’m optimistic he will file a brief,” Takano said, as activists continue to pressure the White House, knowing that a brief from an administration often does have weight with the court. “He did file a brief in the [DOMA] case. And a number of different groups have piled on, including business execs and even some notable Republicans have filed briefs in the [Prop 8] case. Given what the President said both at the inauguration and the State of the Union, I’m hopeful he’s going to weigh in on the Perry case." (Scroll down to listen the full interview)
"I think the prospects at minimum are that the Supreme Court allows the 9th circuit Dourt of Appeals decision to stand,” Takano said of the case, which the Supreme Court will hear at the end of March. “That would mean that Prop 8 basically has been overturned for California.”
Takano made the comments in an interview on my SiriusXM radio show yesterday, following up on remarks he made in a letter to President Obama this week. The president's solicitor general has until midnight tonight to file the brief. This week over 100 Republican and conservative leaders who support marriage equality filed a brief urging the court to throw out Prop 8.
Takano also talked about the challenges, and the excitement, of being elected to Congress and becoming one of a record five openly gay, lesbian or bisexual members in the House. And he also discuss his unique path to Congress having been a teacher 20 years before entering national politics for the the first time.
Listen to the full interview with Takano below:
Before You Go
