Federal Judge Stresses Trial Record on Calif. Gay-Marriage Ban
Whatever Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker winds up deciding on Proposition 8, it’s clear he wants an airtight trial record to support it.
Holding his first hearing Thursday on the controversial measure that outlawed same-sex marriage, Walker repeatedly stressed the importance of establishing a record that will stand the test of time.
He told a packed courtroom that he was “reasonably sure” that the challenge launched by two high-profile litigators is “only touching down in this court” and merely a “prelude” for things to come.
“How we do things here,” Walker said, “is more important than what we do.”
He noted that other courts have rendered decisions on same-sex marriage without holding full trials, which he suggested was a “problem.”
Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 09-CV-2292, was filed in May by Theodore Olson, who represented George W. Bush in the landmark Bush v. Gore case, and David Boies, who represented Al Gore. Boies wasn’t present on Thursday. The suit attacks Prop 8 on equal protection and due process grounds.
Walker had already issued a tentative order allowing Prop 8 proponents to intervene and denying a preliminary injunction (pdf). He stood by both orders during Thursday’s 50-minute session.
Olson, a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Washington, D.C., office who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court 55 times, nonetheless made a fleeting attempt to persuade Walker to change his mind on the injunction.
“Every day that Prop 8 is enforced perpetuates a tragic injustice” on gays and lesbians, he argued, saying it “brands” them as “second-class citizens, unworthy and different.”
“The Supreme Court,” Olson argued, “has held again and again and again that the right to marry is the most important relationship in life.”
Representing the Prop 8 proponents, Washington attorney Charles Cooper, who was a top Justice Department lawyer during the Reagan administration, warned that the lawsuit could “sweep away” not only Prop 8, but the definition of marriage in 43 states and the federal government.
The Cooper & Kirk partner also argued that marriage has by tradition always been the union of a man and a woman, and said that every Supreme Court case that describes marriage has noted that its central purpose is procreation.
See Federal Judge Stresses Trial Record on Calif. Gay-Marriage Ban Above the Law
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NH gov. tests political wind on gay marriage
(Concord, New Hampshire) The legalization of gay marriage in New Hampshire hinges on the next move of Gov. John Lynch, who remains uncommitted but has said he believes the word “marriage” should be reserved for the union of a man and a woman.
“I’m going to talk to legislators and I’m …
Tags: Concord New Hampshire, Hinges, John Lynch, Legalization Of Gay Marriage, Legislators, Man And A Woman, marriage, Political Wind, Union Of A Man And A WomanBill to allow same-sex unions introduced in Minnesota
Bill to allow same-sex unions introduced
The next round of the perennial battle over same-sex marriage in Minnesota was officially joined on Thursday. A bill that would define marriage as a civil contract between “two persons,” rather than a man and a woman, was introduced in the state Senate, sponsored by five DFL members.
It has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, but no hearings have been scheduled.
The bill would strike language from state law that specifically prohibits marriage by persons of the same sex, along with language that refuses to recognize same-sex marriages from another state or country.
Debate over the bill is likely to be fierce if the recent track record in the Legislature is any guide. Between 2004 and 2006, gay marriage opponents proposed bills to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would have decreed marriage is a union of a man and a woman only. The bills didn’t get out of the Legislature, but opponents said last year they would try again in 2009. So far, gay rights advocates are seizing the offensive this year, after trying and failing to pass a bill in 2008.
See Bill to allow same-sex unions introduced
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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