The Attorney General and the Governor of California, both defendants in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial, have filed briefs with US District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, asking that the state allow couples of the same sex to marry again in California, now that Proposition 8 has been found unconstitutional.

The filings from Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger ask that Judge Walker not grant a stay on his ruling pending appeal, as the Defendant-Intervenors have been asking. His brief says that “there is no governmental or public interest in continuing a ban on gay marriage after Walker’s decision.”

“The Administration believes the public interest is best served by permitting the Court’s judgment to go into effect, thereby restoring the right of same-sex couples to marry in California,” wrote Kenneth C. Mennemeier, an attorney representing Schwarzenegger, in the brief. “Doing so is consistent with California’s long history of treating all people and their relationships with equal dignity and respect.”

Walker concluded in a decision Wednesday that Proposition 8 violates the equal protection and due process rights of gays and lesbians. The initiative passed with 52 percent of the vote in November 2008.

Jerry Brown, the state’s Attorney General and a candidate for Governor this year, made his own filing, saying that “there has now been a trial on the merits that conclusively demonstrated that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.”

This is a reversal for Schwarzenegger. While he opposed Prop 8 and chose not to defend the measure in court, he did veto bills that would have legalized same-sex marriage twice, in 2005 and 2007. Schwarzenegger, generally a political weather vane and very mindful of his legacy, has come to the conclusion over the past couple years that it would be better for him politically to now support marriage equality. The fact that his reasoning for the two vetoes was to “let the people decide,” only now he supports the court ruling over the voice of the people, shows this clearly.

Walker issued a temporary stay along with his ruling, but will make a decision on whether to allow the stay pending appeal in the next few days.