Join Email List | About Us | AMERICAblog News
More about: DADT | DOMA | ENDA | Immigration | Marriage | 2012 Elections


Prop. 8 lawyer wants Ninth Circuit to retrieve all copies of trial videos



| Reddit | Tumblr | Digg | FARK

Prop. 8 lawyers really, really, really don't want anyone to see videos from the trial. They've asked the Ninth Circuit to retrieve all copies. Judge Walker showed excerpts of the trial video during a speech a couple months ago. And, the homophobes are apoplectic:

Although Walker retired from the bench 10 days later and is no longer subject to judicial discipline, "he can be ordered to cease further unlawful and improper disclosures," said Charles Cooper, the sponsors' lawyer.

He asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to retrieve all copies of the video from Walker and the plaintiffs who challenged Prop. 8 and seal them from public view. The same court is reviewing the sponsors' appeal of Walker's ruling in August overturning the measure.
Now, if I was a reporter, this would set off all kinds of alarm bells. I'd do everything possible to get my hands on these videos. The over-the-top reaction really shows the fear the pro-Prop. 8 team has about people seeing these videos:
A lawyer for the same-sex couples who challenged Prop. 8 said its sponsor, a conservative religious coalition called Protect Marriage, were continuing efforts to hide the proceedings.

"Why should the public be denied the opportunity to see and hear what happened in a public trial in a public courtroom in a case involving the constitutional rights of millions of people?" asked attorney Theodore Boutrous.
Good question.

The anti-Prop. 8 lawyers should ask the court to remove the seal. Let the world see what happened at trial. It's the least they could.

blog comments powered by Disqus