Same-Sex Marriage Update

[SuperFemme]

A closer look at the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling indefinitely barring any broadcast of the Prop 8 trial shows the difference between the majority and dissenters boiled down to two things. The majority (Justices Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Kennedy and Scalia) concluded that Chief Judge Vaughn Walker did not follow federal law in changing rules to allow cameras in his courtroom for the trial, in large part because they believe he didn't allow enough time for public comment on changes to local federal court rules. And the justices also determined that Prop 8 supporters demonstrated there could be harm to their fair trial rights because certain witnesses could be intimidated by broadcast exposure, reason to keep the stay in place.


The dissenters (Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Stevens) couldn't have disagreed more. They said Walker easily followed the rules, and rejected the idea Prop 8's defense would suffer any harm. They called the decision an unprecedented attempt to "micromanage" a district court's administration.


Same-sex marriage advocates can only hope the justices don't break down along the same party lines if the main issue reaches the high court.

[SuperFemme]

follow the link to read the entire SCOTUS decision on the stay. I personally am with the dissenters.

http://www.mercurynews.com/samesexma...urce=autofeed#

[Cyclopea]

"Fed Prop 8 trial to receive re-enactment treatment by L.A. filmmaker - debuts this week

by: Pam Spaulding
Mon Jan 18, 2010 at 07:27:23 AM EST

When I saw this story, I recalled that the 1996 O.J. Simpson civil trial was not televised -- unlike the infamous murder trial when he was acquitted. The E! channel produced a next-day re-enactment of the prior day's verbatim transcripts using actors in a courtroom. Simpson was found liable for the deaths of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman in the civil trial.

I don't know if filmmaker John Ireland was inspired by the above, but it's a great idea to bring the Prop 8 federal trial trial to life since SCOTUS has blocked the broadcast of the landmark event.

Freelance journalist and filmmaker John Ireland, who's based in Los Angeles and regularly examines gay rights issues, will produce a daily re-enactment of the Proposition 8 federal trial and post it on YouTube, starting this week.

Ireland has been casting the parts of pro-gay marriage lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, and anti-gay marriage attorney Charles Cooper, among others, over this weekend.

Filming started over the weekend according to On Top Magazine, and the first "episode" will debut on YouTube on Tuesday.

"People want to see this drama unfold and there is a tremendous narrative that was propelled by that first day of testimony. This is the first time that gay and lesbian people have talked about their lives in federal court. It's historic from that point of view."
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Not sure if this will be a reenactment of the actual transcript, or some interpretation thereof. I would like to see (or hear- radio would be fine) a word by word minimally dramatized version.

I hope that the video of the proceedings is not destroyed and that we will some day have access to it.