On August 16, less than two weeks after United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, of the Northern District of California in San Francisco, declared, on August 4, that Proposition 8, which bars same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional, Ninth Circuit Judges Edward Leavy, Michael Hawkins, and Sidney Thomas, of the United States Court of Appeals in San Francisco, announced an indefinite stay of Judge Walker's ruling.

The case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, pits same-sex couples Kristin Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarillo, who were denied marriage licenses in May 2009, against Arnold Schwarzenegger, in his official capacity as Governor of California.

The Ninth Circuit panel scheduled a hearing on the appeal for the week of December 6, at the James R. Browning Courthouse in San Francisco, "an unusual fast-tracking of the appeals process and a positive sign of things to come," according to the Courage Campaign (www.couragecampaign.org) in California.

The opening brief in the case is due on September 17, the answering brief on October 18, and the reply brief on November 1.