Quote:
Originally Posted by Toughy
It was not the Supreme Court who ruled no cameras. It was Judge Vaughn Walker...the Presiding Judge. Incidentally he is a gay man.
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Here's one article who said it was a SCJ ruling to disallow its broadcast. I also seem to remember that people were concerned that this ruling could be a predictor of perhaps the Supreme Court not judging in favour of marriage equality when the case is presented before them.
No cameras in Prop 8 trial
By a 5-4 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court has barred broadcast of the federal court challenge to Proposition 8, the California referendum that nullified same-sex marriage in the state. I'm deeply saddened to say that I think the court made the right decision.
I would have loved to have had a direct glimpse of the proceedings. But I live and work in Washington, and I am unable to spend two to three weeks in the California courtroom that is hosting the trial. A broadcast -- traditional or over the Internet -- would have been my only chance to witness the potentially groundbreaking proceedings. I'm sure there are lots of folks who feel the same way.
But the conservative justices in the majority -- Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito -- were right in concluding that Judge Vaughn R. Walker, the trial judge in this case, improperly cut corners to jam through novel court rules to allow the first-ever transmission of a federal trial. In the process, he gave short shrift to the concerns of Proposition 8 supporters, who worried that such a broadcast would increase the likelihood that they'd be threatened or harassed.
It is time -- long past time, actually -- that the federal courts entered the 21st century and allowed cameras in the courtroom. This is especially true for cases such as the Prop 8 matter, which trigger heightened public interest. But in moving forward, judges must make sure they respect the procedures already in place. They -- no less than the people who appear before them -- must follow the rules.
By Eva Rodriguez | January 13, 2010; 6:55 PM ET
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/pos...p_8_trial.html
Here's another one:
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that cameras will not be allowed in the court room for the duration of the federal case challenging California's same-sex marriage ban. This overrules Judge Vaughn Walker's move to permit real-time video streaming of the trial.
The ruling comes after a half day of proceedings Wednesday morning that found attorneys for Proposition 8 arguing that voters could support a ballot measure against marriage equality without being motivated by antigay sentiment.
http://www.shewired.com/Article.cfm?ID=24252