Olson Wants Yes on 8 to Back Down

Attorney Theodore B. Olson, who is working to overturn California's voter-approved gay marriage ban, asked the state supreme court Tuesday not to allow Proposition 8 sponsors to defend the ballot measure in court.

Because the newly inaugurated California government will not support Prop. 8 in court, it leaves private marriage equality opponents, the sponsors of Yes on 8, to fight for the ballot measure in the U.S. ninth circuit court of appeals. The federal court has asked the state court whether nongovernment entities should be able defend the measure, according to the Los Angeles Times. Olson, however, said the state supreme court should not be making that decision.

"It is clear that California law vests the attorney general -- not private litigants -- with the authority to represent the state's interest in litigation," Olson wrote to the court.