So the wingnuts of VoteOnMarriage have decided to file suit in Federal court against 109 members of the Massachusetts Legislature.
This follows on last week's suit filed with the Commonwealth's Supreme Judicial Court against the Legislature.
They're trying to claim that they have the right to put whatever crazy idea up for a vote without following the process of law.
Unfortunately, the bitter truth is that the General Court is obligated to consider all citizen petitions for referendum. They're not required to take an up-or-down vote, and at least 30 times in the past 223 years, they've not done so. With impunity — at least nobody's ever punished the Lege for not voting on a referendum petition.
The relevant law is covered in the Massachusetts Constitution, specifically Article 48. To wit, you can gather signatures on petitions (as modified by Article 74) and submit them to the legislature after certification by the Attorney General. Part IV, Legislative Action on Proposed Constitutional Amendments, lays out the voting procedures for the Lege, but at no time does it require them to take a final vote. It does state that you have to receive 25% of the votes of the Joint Session two years running, starting the year after you submit the signed petition. If you fail to do so — for whatever reason — you lose. And then you can't come back for 3 years.
As MassMarrier says, this is the "Hold your breath until you turn blue" strategy for the crowd at whatever-they're called {Massresistance aka Article 8 aka Parent's Right Coalition aka Interfaith Coalition of Massachusetts}, the Massachusetts Family Institute and, of course, our occasional governor Romney.
How does this affect the greater community of Kosmopolitans? Easy; this is about marriage equality, gay rights-in-general, Mitt Romney (the Willard who would be President), and letting the wingnuts win because they're the squeaky wheels.
So they've now filed. One more headache for the rest of us.