Prop 8: The Danger of the Ballot Box and the Role of the Courts

"... Far from showing that California’s Supreme Court was wrong to extend the right of marriage to gay people, the passage of Proposition 8 is a reminder of the crucial role that the courts play in protecting vulnerable groups from unfair treatment.

Apart from creating legal uncertainty about the thousands of same-sex marriages that have been performed in California and giving rise to lawsuits challenging whether the rules governing ballot measures were properly followed, the immediate impact of Tuesday’s rights-shredding exercise is to underscore the danger of allowing the ballot box to be used to take away people’s fundamental rights." (New York Times Editorial)

To this day, I do not understand how an amendment to a state's constitution, especially one with civil rights implications can be made with a simple majority (50% + 1) vote.  To amend the United States Constitution, it takes three-quarters of legislatures in three-quarters of the States.  Even in Florida, where a similar amendment was on the ballot, it took 60% of the vote for it to pass.