California Court Upholds Domestic Partnership Statutes

California’s domestic partnership law provides a domestic partner with virtually all of the rights of a spouse including the right to inherit via intestate succession under California Probate Code § 6401.

A claim was made that this law was in violation of Proposition 22 which provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman will be valid or recognized in California.

Yesterday (April 4, 2005), the Third District Court of Appeals in Knight v. Superior Court of Sacramento County rejected this argument:

“[T]he plain and unambiguous language of Proposition 22 shows that the initiative was intended only to limit the status of marriage to heterosexual couples and to prevent the recognition in California of homosexual marriages that have been, or may in the future be, legitimized by laws of other jurisdictions. The words of Proposition 22, and also its ballot pamphlet materials, do not express an intent to repeal our state’s then-existing domestic partners laws or to limit the Legislature’s authority to enact other legislation regulating such unions. If this were the intention of proponents of Proposition 22, the electorate was not given the opportunity to vote on that undisclosed objective, and courts are precluded from interpreting Proposition 22 in a manner that was not presented to the voters.

“Contrary to petitioners’ suggestion, the Legislature has not created a “marriage” by another name or granted domestic partners a status equivalent to married spouses.”