Three Judge Panel Chosen in Prop 8 Appeal

The U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit on Monday announced the three-judge panel that will hear oral arguments in the Proposition 8 appeal next week.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that the appellate panel -- composed of judges Stephen Reinhardt, Michael Daly Hawkins, and N. Randy Smith -- is ideologically diverse.

Judge Reinhardt, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, is a staunch liberal known for controversial decisions, including a 2002 case which struck down the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance as violation of the separation of church and state.

A Clinton appointee, Judge Hawkins is seen as a moderate, the Mercury News reported, and was also part of the three-judge panel that imposed a stay of U.S. district judge Vaughn Walker's August ruling against Prop. 8. The stay delayed a return to marriage equality in California while the suit is appealed.

A Republican appointee, Judge Smith was nominated in 2007 by President George W. Bush and joined the court in the same year.

Supporters of the anti-marriage equality ballot measure, joined by a socially conservative county in Southern California, will argue two main points before the panel next week: that they have standing to appeal the case and that Judge Walker erred in striking down Prop. 8 as unconstitutional.