As Scott Shafer reported today, former Judge Vaughn Walker is in hot water with Proposition 8 proponents over a video clip he showed from the trial on the same-sex marriage ban, which he presided over in 2010. Which is probably not the biggest news, because he’s already in boiling hot water with Prop 8 proponents for ruling that the initiative is unconstitutional…
Nevertheless, as Scott Shafer blogged:
Prop 8 supporters say Walker illegally used that clip, which was under seal during the trial and explicitly forbidden from broadcast by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a lawsuit filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal, Prop. 8 attorneys accuse Walker of illegally and unethically using the tapes and ask the court (the same court now considering the appeal of Walker’s decision) to force Walker to turn over all copies of the trial so they won’t be broadcast again.
Below is the clip in question. Walker showed it during a legal seminar on the issue of cameras in the courtroom, at the University of Arizona, Feb. 18. The event was recorded and archived online by C-SPAN. You won’t be able to see the proceedings up close, as the camera stays focused on Walker in front of a video screen, but you will be able to hear what’s going on, described this way by Scott Shafer:
The clip shows attorney plaintiffs’ David Boies cross-examining Claremont-McKenna political science professor Kenneth Miller on whether Prop. 8 meets his definition of “official” or state sanctioned discrimination. It is not a particularly flattering clip, as it shows Boies getting Miller to acknowledge that laws against same sex marriage discriminate against gay and lesbian couples.