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Today at 1 p.m. ET the California Supreme Court will issue its opinion on whether the sponsors of PROP 8 have the legal right to defend the controversial ballot initiative in federal court. In August 2010 a district court judge struck down the initiative that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Because California’s governor and its attorney general declined to defend the law, its sponsors stepped forward to appeal the ruling.

But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals put the case on hold in order to ask the state’s highest court whether the sponsors had the legal right — or “standing” — to bring the challenge.

The decision today will not be the final word on the standing issue. It will be sent to the appeals court which will then issue its own opinion in the weeks to come.