Judge mulls unsealing videos of gay marriage trial

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/08/29/general-us-gay-marriage-trial_8648705.html

SAN FRANCISCO -- The legal sparring over California's same-sex marriage ban returned to a San Francisco courtroom Monday with a federal judge hearing arguments on whether he should unseal video recordings of last year's landmark trial on the constitutionality of the voter-approved measure.

Lawyers representing two same-sex couples, the city of San Francisco and a coalition of media groups that includes The Associated Press asked Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware to make the recordings public. They maintained that allowing people to see the proceedings for themselves was necessary to demonstrate why Ware's predecessor, former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, ultimately struck down the ban, known as Proposition 8, and to counter any perceptions that Walker was biased against same-sex marriage opponents from the start.


"Releasing the video would allow everyone to review and make their own judgment about what happened," Theodore Boutrous, the couples' attorney, told the judge.

Attorneys for the ban's backers want to keep the videos under wraps. They argued that videos of the 13-day trial would be a direct violation of the U.S. Supreme Court's position on the issue.

[William769]

1. I hope it gets released!

I want to see who said what and to whom.

[yardwork]

2. The Prop 8 backers don't want people to see how ridiculous they looked in court.

I've read transcripts of their testimony. They got nothing.