Within a decade, same-sex marriage probably will be legal in California. Thanks to the California Supreme Court 6-1 ruling on Tuesday to uphold Proposition 8, the law will be changed in the proper way -- not by judicial fiat, but with California voters determining whether, when and how best to broaden the state's marriage laws.

In a 4-3 decision last May, the court had ruled that California's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, as the state's civil-union laws conferred "significantly unequal treatment" for same-sex couples by denying them the right to call themselves married. In November, voters struck back by passing, with 52 percent of the vote, Proposition 8, which changed the state Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.