Constitutional Amendments

The California Supreme Court decision upholding Proposition 8's same-sex marriage ban illuminated the history and oddities of the state Constitution, provoking renewed discussion about whether voters can too easily amend it. Whereas the U.S. Constitution has been amended only 27 times, California's top legal document has been altered more than 500 times, often by voter initiative. The state's Constitution is the third longest in the world, exceeded only by those of India and Alabama.

Chief Justice Ronald M. George has told the state Judicial Council that because of California's fiscal problems, he is withdrawing a proposal to amend the state Constitution to speed up death penalty appeals. The amendment was put forth by the seven-member state Supreme Court in November and would have enabled that body to refer some cases to intermediate-level appellate courts for initial review.

Motorists are getting gouged at the gas pump. Families are losing their homes. The war is a debacle and embarrassment. Healthcare costs soar out of control. Food prices strain household budgets. Climate change could devastate the planet. And we're supposed to worry about what two people living together in a loving relationship are called? "Partners" or "married"? Whatever makes them happy, I say.

President Alvaro Uribe has thrown Colombia into political turmoil after a Supreme Court decision questioning the legitimacy of his 2006 reelection led him to ask that voters have an opportunity to redo the vote. Uribe said he would press Congress to approve a referendum asking voters whether they want to repeat the 2006 presidential election. Sen. Hector Eli Rojas of the opposition Liberal Party accused Uribe of seeking the plebiscite as "an excuse for a third term."

Supporters of Proposition 8, the proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, said they would file suit today to block a change made by California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to the language of the measure's ballot title and summary. Petitions circulated to qualify the initiative for the ballot said the measure would amend the state Constitution "to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

The city of Madison, Wis., swears in hundreds of elected and appointed officials in an annual ritual each April. This year, many may turn their oaths of office into a political protest. In a move that has raised concern on the left and the right, the City Council this week voted to let officeholders announce they are taking the oath under protest because they deplore a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Cherokee Nation members voted Saturday to revoke the tribal citizenship of an estimated 2,800 descendants of the people the Cherokees once owned as slaves. With a majority of districts reporting, 76% had voted in favor of an amendment to the tribal constitution that would limit citizenship to descendants of "by blood" tribal members as listed on the federal Dawes Commission rolls from more than 100 years ago.

Amid anemic turnout, Egyptians voted Monday on a package of constitutional amendments in a referendum boycotted by opposition groups and criticized by human rights organizations and the U.S. government. Despite a push by President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party to get out the vote, polling stations throughout Cairo saw only a trickle of voters -- many of them party members or civil servants bused in from work.

Egypt's government said referendum voters overwhelmingly endorsed constitutional amendments, but a state-appointed human rights panel alleged that public-sector workers were forced to cast ballots. Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei said that the yes vote in Monday's referendum on 34 constitutional amendments was 76%. Officials said 27% of the 36 million voters had cast ballots. Opposition groups had called for a boycott of the vote, arguing that the amendments were a setback to democracy.