As expected, attorneys for the Yes on 8 campaign which secured passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008 filed notice of appeal of the U.S. District Court ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. The appeal was filed one day after Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the state constitutional amendment as violating the federal constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process.

Judge Walker has given attorneys challenging Proposition 8 until Friday, August 6, to submit their written arguments as to whether he should or should not grant a stay of his August 4 decision in the Proposition 8 case.

If Walker denies the stay, same-sex couples presumably will be able to obtain marriage licenses in California immediately but probably only for a very short time. Yes on 8 attorneys would almost certainly request an emergency review of that denial by the 9th Circuit—meaning there would then be two Perry-related appeals before the 9th Circuit.