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Shannon Minter, the NCLR Legal Director and one of the lawyers who argued for the repeal of Prop 8 before the California Supreme Court, has issued a statement about the amazing decision issued by the Iowa Supreme Court this morning:

Today, the Iowa Supreme Court recognized that the constitutional guarantee of equal protection requires that same-sex couples have ‘full access to the institution of civil marriage.’ The ruling makes clear that civil unions or domestic partnerships cannot meet the demands of full constitutional equality.

Hmmmm . . . .

There’s a little more.

We hope the California Supreme Court will uphold the essential principle of equality regardless of political controversy, just as the Iowa Supreme Court has done. The eyes of California and the world are now on the California Supreme Court, which must determine whether equal protection means equal, and whether Californians will continue to share that equality in the freedom to marry.”

Yeah, hmmmm . . . The thing is that the California Supreme Court did originally rule in favor of gay marriage back in May by interpreting the California Constitution much the same way the Iowa Supreme Court just interpreted its Constitution. But the California Justices are no longer deliberating over Constitutional interpretations — they are now dealing with the votes of the people via Prop 8, and that is an entirely different animal. When the Justices rule, it won’t be on whether they (necessarily) like gay marriage — it will be in whether Prop 8 legally changed the effects of the original ruling.