Tweets from Scott Shafer here.
http://twitter.com/#!/scottshafer/status/115834302662582272
http://twitter.com/#!/scottshafer/status/115837240827068416
Federal Judge Grants Motion to Release Video of Prop. 8 Trial; Watch Video Clip From Trial
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This side-issue in the Prop 8 legal battle grows out of a video clip from the trial shown by former federal judge Vaughn Walker at a University of Arizona legal seminar on the issue of cameras in the courtroom. Walker, of course, is the judge who ruled last year that the same-sex marriage ban is uncontitutional. Prop 8 supporters appealed his decision, which is still being heard by the 9th Circuit.
Scott Shafer blogged this about the video clip at the time:
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 (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.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.