Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/558bv.pdf
Page Number: 346

Cite as: 558 U. S. 183 (2010) 

185 

Per Curiam 

for notice and comment and that the public broadcast would 
violate  their  due  process  rights  to  a  fair  and  impartial  trial. 
Applicants seek a stay of the order pending the ﬁling of peti­
tions  for  writs  of  certiorari  and  mandamus.  We  granted  a 
temporary stay to consider the issue further.  Post, p. 1107. 
Concluding that applicants have made a sufﬁcient showing of 
entitlement to relief, we now grant a stay. 

I 

Proposition  8  was  passed  by  California  voters  in  Novem­
ber  2008.  It  was  a  ballot  proposition  designed  to  overturn 
a  ruling  by  the  California  Supreme  Court  that  had  given 
same-sex  couples  a  right  to  marry.  Proposition  8  was  and 
is the subject of public debate throughout the State and, in­
deed,  nationwide.  Its  advocates  claim  that  they  have  been 
subject to harassment as a result of public disclosure of their 
support.  See,  e. g.,  Reply  Brief  for  Appellant  in  Citizens 
United  v.  Federal  Election  Comm’n,  No.  08–205,  pp.  28–29, 
[Reporter’s  Note:  see 
now  pending  before  this  Court. 
post, p. 310.]  For example, donors to groups supporting Prop­
osition 8 “have received death threats and envelopes contain­
ing a powdery white substance.”  Stone, Prop 8 Donor Web 
Site Shows Disclosure Is 2-Edged Sword, N. Y. Times, Feb. 8, 
2009.  Some  advocates  claim  that  they  have  received  con­
frontational phone calls and e-mail messages from opponents 
of Proposition 8, ibid., and others have been forced to resign 
their  jobs  after  it  became  public  that  they  had  donated  to 
groups  supporting  the  amendment,  see  Brief  for  Center  for 
Competitive  Politics  as  Amicus  Curiae  in  Citizens  United, 
supra, pp. 13–14.  Opponents of Proposition 8 also are alleged 
to  have  compiled  “Internet  blacklists”  of  pro-Proposition  8 
businesses  and  urged  others  to  boycott  those  businesses  in 
retaliation for supporting the ballot measure.  Carlton, Gay 
Activists  Boycott  Backers  of  Prop  8,  Wall  Street  Journal, 
Dec. 27, 2008, p. A3.  And numerous instances of vandalism 
and physical violence have been reported against those who