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Dana Cody, executive director, Life Legal Defense Foundation------ Bill Lockyer, California's Attorney General

Two lawsuits seeking to prevent the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee (ICOC), set up by the passage of Proposition 71 by California voters last November, from selling $3 billion in bonds to be provided to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for the purpose of conducting embryonic stem cells research are currently pending.

The first of these is being brought by the People's Advocate, represented by Life Legal Defense Foundation Executive Director Dana Cody, in Alameda County Superior Court, where the interim offices of the ICOC are located, in Emeryville.

This case seeks to prevent the ICOC from raising and spending bond monies for embryonic stem cell research on the grounds that Article XVI, Section 3, of the California Constitution prohibits such grants of funds to organizations that are not under the exclusive control of the California State Government.

You can learn more about this pending litigation by clicking here, here, and here.

The second suit is being brought by the California Family Bioethics Council, represented by Sacramento-based attorney David Llewellyn. Mr. Llewellyn has filed a "reverse validation action" on behalf of his clients, seeking to "invalidate Proposition 71, the actions of all entities created by Proposition 71 (including the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee (ICOC), the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), its working groups and committees, and any funding involving these entities."

You can learn more about this second case, including the arguments being made by Mr. Llewellyn in support of invalidating the sale of any embryonic stem cell research bonds by the ICOC, by clicking here.

California Politics Today spoke this afternoon with Nathan Barankin, spokesperson for California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, about the motion, recently filed by the Attorney General, to consolidate these two cases into a single lawsuit.

The purpose of doing that, explains Mr. Barankin, is to facilitate a complete "judicial resolution as quickly as possible so that the voters' will can be enforced once and for all."

The Attorney General's spokesperson explains during the interview that, while there is no legal rule preventing the sale of these embryonic stem cell research bonds while litigation contesting their legitimacy is pending, these lawsuits have nevertheless "clouded [their] marketability."

You can listen to this conversation with Nathan Barankin, spokesperson for California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, in its entirety, by clicking here.

The legal arguments from all sides involved in these cases will be heard in Alameda County Superior Court on August 4, 2005.