Shortly after AB 205‚ the California Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003‚ was signed into law, two right-wing groups filed lawsuits seeking to prevent the law from going into effect.

On April 4, 2005, the Third Appellate District upheld the state’s domestic partnership law. This decision was reaffirmed in two related appeals on January 27, 2006 and again on March 16, 2006.

On April 12, 2006, the California Supreme Court declined any further review of the decision. NCLR defended AB 205 on behalf of 12 same-sex couples and Equality California along with lead counsel David C. Codell of the Law Office of David C. Codell. The ACLU and Lambda Legal also served as counsel.