Update: 5:00 PM
Via SCOTUSblog: “Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked any television broadcast to the general public of the San Francisco federal court challenge to California’s ban on same-sex marriage. The stay will remain in effect until the Court rules on a coming appeal challenging the TV order. The Court, chastizing lower courts for attempting “to change its rules at the eleventh hour,†issued a 17-page opinion.”
Personally, I find this preposterous. The only bright spot I can see is it’s one less possible avenue the opposition can take to appeal should they lose.
Update: 4:45 PM
The 4:00 PM EST stay has passed, which means that the trial judge in Perry v. Schwarzenegger could allow a live feed and could allow video already taken to be uploaded to YouTube. There has been no word from any judicial source. Stay tuned.
Will Prop 8 Curtain Be Raised Today?
I’m still silently steaming after heading out to the federal courthouse in Brooklyn only to be told by a court officer that the U.S. Supreme Court had placed a temporary stay on the very limited remote viewing of the trial. But that was Monday and the temporary stay expires today at 4:00 PM EST.
The claim for the 8-1 decision was that the courts needed “more time” to investigate the impact of cameras in the court. I think they’ve had enough time. After all, TV has been around solidly for seventy years. How much more time could the court need? And what exactly are the pro-Prop 8 folks afraid of? (Well, Satan, actually.)
For the record, I find it interesting that an entire segment of society that has spent centuries in the closet is the one pushing to have the spotlight lit on it for the world to see. We want the world to know what it’s truly like living as a member of the LGBTQ community. But the Prop 8 people are just too scared to let that happen. They’re too scared to let the world see how they have, with the aid of the government, repressed and persecuted us.
Well, for us, at least, it’s a new day. But not for the anti-marriage equality folks.
As I’ve read reports and tweets and listened to people talk about the trial this week, it’s becoming clear that the basis for the anti-gay marriage “defense” is still God. Yes, that’s right. God.
Equality and freedom from religion are enshrined in our Constitution.Which means that, almost by default, we should win everything in this case. We should have cameras in the courtroom. And we should win on the merits of the case.
Because this is America. And in America, cameras, not God, are what should light up our courts.
Read more on this at Chris Geidner’s Law Dork.