Federal judge wants Prop. 8 trial shown to the public

[ruggerson]

Reporting from San Francisco - A federal judge in San Francisco said Wednesday that he wants the federal trial over the constitutionality of Proposition 8 to be videotaped and distributed over the Internet.

"This certainly is a case that has sparked widespread interest," U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker said during a hearing Wednesday. The nature of the case and its importance warranted "widespread distribution," he said.

If Walker's view is endorsed, as expected, by the chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the legal battle over same-sex marriage will become the first federal trial within the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit -- which includes nine Western states -- to be videotaped in its entirety for public viewing, said Thomas Burke, a media attorney.

"It is a rare day and a lot of decades in coming that a federal court allows cameras in the court -- even its own cameras," Burke said.

MORE:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-marriage7-2010jan07,0,6401906.story

[TexasObserver]

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