California, intent on proving it has too much democracy, has bought itself some tricky legal questions.

First, did the voters just revise or amend their constitution (and does that matter)? LATimes reports:

Lawyers for same-sex couples argued that the anti-gay-marriage measure was an illegal constitutional revision — not a more limited amendment, as backers maintained — because it fundamentally altered the guarantee of equal protection. A constitutional revision, unlike an amendment, must be approved by the Legislature before going to voters.

The state high court has twice before struck down ballot measures as illegal constitutional revisions, but those initiatives involved "a broader scope of changes," said former California Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grodin, who publicly opposed Proposition 8 and was part of an earlier legal challenge to it. The court has suggested that a revision may be distinguished from an amendment by the breadth and the nature of the change, Grodin said

Still, Grodin said, he believes that the challenge has legal merit, though he declined to make any predictions. Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen called the case "a stretch."

Second, was it (and could it) be retroactive? As  WSJ Law Blog reports:

 Voters in California seem to have spoken clearly: under the state’s constitution, marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman. One result that’s far from clear, however: what happens to all those same-sex couples who rushed to wed prior to the election?

It’s hard to say, reports the LA Times — but a “legal chaos” could follow. Seven legal scholars recently interviewed by the Times were largely divided over which side the law favors. “There is no clear answer,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Irvine Law School. “This is ultimately going to have to be litigated by the courts.”

“Until it is litigated, every same-sex couple with a marriage license is going to be hanging in limbo,” added Glen Lavy, senior counsel to the Alliance Defense Fund, which opposes gay marriage.

…

Still, other scholars cite a long tradition of courts making constitutional amendments retroactive only if the authors clearly intended them to be so. “I would think both under federal and state constitutional principles you can’t have a retroactive application that would result in a removal of what had been recognized and protected as a fundamental right,” said UC Berkeley family law professor Joan Holloway.

Maybe. Fact is, there’s no consensus at all about how to interpret these referenda. Here’s an example discussion from "Taking State Constitutions Seriously," by Marvin Krislov and Daniel M. Katz, published in the Spring 2008 Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy (17 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol’y 295):

What role should the courts play in interpreting ballot measures? Legal scholars have debated the question of differential treatment – whether courts should take a "hard look" at direct democratic initiatives that they would not employ for legislation passed by a deliberative body. The late Professor Julian Eule argued that courts should look more closely when the voters enact a law without a complementary legislative action, particularly where minority interests are implicated. His famous "hard judicial look theory" suggests a more aggressive approach to judicial review for this set of direct democratic measures. Professor Eule asserts that it is unlikely that state courts will rule that popular enactments, either statutory or amendatory, violate existing state constitutions. Professor Eule finds it especially unlikely that searching review will occur in the sixteen states that are the focus of this article – where constitutions can be amended directly without legislative review or  veto. According to Eule, in these sixteen states, "sovereignty truly vests in an electoral majority." Since state courts, particularly in those sixteen states, will likely defer to the voters, federal courts step into the role of actively arbitrating democratically-enacted laws.

Other scholars have attempted to create rules for interpreting democratically enacted measures. In her study of state court decisions from 1984 and 1994 concerning the interpretation of legislative initiatives, Professor Schacter focuses on the difficulty of courts determining popular "intent." Ultimately, she argues for a different method – a set of "metademocratic" rules. These rules guard against two distinct problems of popular democracy – lack of information by the voters, and inequity or lack of clarity in the initiative process. To address the information gap, she proposes liberal rules for amicus participation and intervention. When the process appears biased or the language confusing, she proposes construing the language narrowly.

Professor Frickey contends that one should combine Professor Eule’s focus on federal constitutionality and Professor Schacter’s focus on statutory interpretation by relying on a quasi-constitutional interpretive approach. In balancing both popular sovereignty and constitutional values, Professor Frickey imports interpretive canons – 1) avoiding constitutional invalidation, 2) narrowly construing propositions when there is a conflict with existing law, and 3) paying more attention to established canons of law (such as the rule of lenity) where direct democracy is involved.

By contrast, Professor Tushnet rejects the notion of "differential standards of review." He argues that the three reasons proffered for reviewing direct democracy differently than legislative action – lack of deliberation, the bifurcated decision (and lack of logrolling), and structural  or political concerns – do not support more aggressive judicial review.

Simple, huh? Of course, keep in mind there’s no legislative history upon which the courts can rely, as they would for a normal legislative statute or constitutional convention. At best, the courts can dive right into the politics and campaigning to ascertain the meaning, which is the very last thing any court wants to do.

The great irony: the question of interpretation falls to the California Supreme Court, which issued the ruling later apparently rejected by the voters.

If I may be so bold, perhaps "constitutional rights" should not be left up to simple majority ballot referenda. Can you imagine if Loving v. Virginia had been on the ballot in 1968 when Nixon was swept in by the South?