From a knowledge of court procedure, and the fact that Defendant Intervenors have already lodged a Motion For Stay Pending Appeal, it is quite clear that Judge Walker’s opinion will be a victory for gay marriage and a loss to the Proposition 8 H8ters. Proposition 8 is going to be held to be unconstitutional.

Perry v. Schwarzenegger Prop 8 Decision will be issued by Judge Vaughn Walker tomorrow

Greetings from the United States Federal Courthouse for the Northern District of California where Marcy Wheeler, Teddy Partridge and I spent Wednesday covering closing arguments in Perry et al. v. Schwarzenegger et al. It was quite a day and, despite the solemn nature of court proceedings, a monumental and electric day. To be honest, the [...]

[About 20 minutes w/ Cooper and then Olson's rebuttal] Walker: Mr. Cooper, carry on. Cooper: Appreciate Court’s indulgence. Walker: Well, that’s a good idea. Cooper: want to take up CA SC’s ruling on the marriages. This is something on which I agreed with Mr. Olson. I don’t believe that that would make a difference, I [...]

Cooper: NY Court of Appeals ruled in 2006, until very recently, only marriage between two sexes. MA “changed def of marriage as inherited from common law.” CA: From beginning of statehood, marriage between man and women. Why has marriage been defined as exclusively opposite sex. Makes marriage fundamental to very existence of human race. Court [...]

Therese Stewart: The fact that legislation costs govt money is not sufficient to make law unconstitutional. Court decision on public schools. Considered toll on children, but also role of education, basic tools. Serious harm that Prop 8 imposes on gay men and lesbians, their children, and cities. Support case that Prop 8 was born of [...]

Teddy and I are in the ceremonial court room to watch the Prop 8 Trial. bmaz is making friends down in the actual court room. Teddy’s doing a full liveblog over there where the wireless signal is strong. Until he needs a break, I’m just going to write some impressions and transcribe bmaz’s comments (he’s [...]

The lawyers for the plaintiffs in Perry v. Schwarzenegger trial had a conference call to preview what they will say in next week’s closing arguments (which Teddy, bmaz, and I will cover from the courthouse). The most interesting response from the legal team came in response to questions about the defendants’ complaints about having a [...]

Is the US government prone to using their prohibited terrorist designations in some kind of shell game for political expediency?

As bmaz reported last night, the Obama Administration has refused to accept Vaughn Walker’s ruling in al-Haramain–in fairly spectacular fashion (and yes, bmaz, Mary, MadDog and others did tell me this was going to happen). Meanwhile, across the pond, the folks from whom we got our legal system are refusing the very concept that the [...]