The three judge panel that heard oral arguments in the Prop 8 case on December 6th has just issued a new ruling on standing ... and it's a punt.

The 9th Circuit is asking the California Supreme Court to comment on whether proponents of an initiative have the standing to speak for the initiative under California law (here is the PDF of the order). Ed Whelan at Bench Memos has all the other links.

"We're confident Protect Marriage will win on the standing issue, and 7 million Californians will have their day in court," says Brian Brown.

(Judge Reinhardt himself says Proponents of the measure make a strong case [PDF here]. And he explicitly does not say what will happen to standing if the California Supreme Court rules Proponents do not have standing.  One thing this makes certain: delay.)