Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) came out swinging Thursday against a federal judge and his ruling that overturned California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.

NOM placed the measure on the California ballot in 2008 after the state's highest court legalized gay marriage. Proposition 8 trumped the court's ruling and put an end to gay and lesbian weddings taking place in the state.

The ruling, handed down Wednesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, says Proposition 8 violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples who wish to marry.

Gallagher, who stepped down as the group's president in April and is now listed as its board chair, called Walker's ruling a “radical rejection of Americans' rights.”

“Here we have an openly gay federal judge substituting his views for those of the American people and of our Founding Fathers who I promise you would be shocked by courts that imagine they have the right to put gay marriage in our Constitution,” Gallagher said in a television appearance.

In an op-ed published Thursday in the San Francisco Chronicle, Gallagher also went after the two attorneys who litigated the case, Ted Olson and David Boies, claiming that they pushed the case to satisfy their “hunger for media attention” and “huge egos.”

NOM also backed a referendum in Maine last year that repealed a gay marriage law approved by lawmakers. Walker's decision is certain to complicate the group's efforts to repeal a gay marriage law in Iowa.

Lately, the group has been plying the argument that gay marriage foes are being denied their civil rights. In her op-ed she returned to the theme: “[T]he Supreme Court will uphold Prop. 8 and the core civil rights of Californians and all Americans to vote for marriage as one man and one woman.”

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a group that promotes openly gay elected officials, initiated a petition drive Thursday against Gallagher's remarks.

“Sign this petition and tell Maggie gay-baiting has no place in the national debate over LGBT equality,” the petition says.