OAKLAND-- -- Attorney General Jerry Brown made a legal u-turn on Friday on Proposition 8. He had been expected to defend the ban on same-sex marriage in front of the California Supreme Court.

Friday was the deadline for supporters of the measure to respond to a lawsuit that argued Prop 8 is a revision of the constitution, not just an amendment.

Instead the Attorney General's said when his office began looking at it they quickly decided it was an amendment. But they said they determined it was an unconstitutional one that violates a fundamental right to the pursuit of happiness. The attorney general's office determined it should be stuck down.

Brown said "What we're saying is, that the people can change the constitution but they can't strip away a fundamental liberty unless they can demonstrate a compelling interest. Well the court has already ruled there is no compelling interest."

But it's an opinion that supporters of a ban on same sex marriage are already criticising. Prop 8 supporters filed their paperwork in the California State Supreme Court Friday, saying that Prop 8 "restores the definition of marriage to what it was and always had been under California law before june 16th, 2008." Supporters of a same sex marriage ban also argued to nullify the 18-thousand gay marriages that took place between June and November.

Friday, their legal team said since the people of California voted for Prop 8, the attorney general is abandoning his duty to protect the laws of the state of California.