When the Prop 8 trial goes for its oral arguments at the Ninth Circuit, they will be televised by C-SPAN and heard on local and nationwide radio:
A federal appeals court Wednesday authorized the televising of a Dec. 6 hearing on whether Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, should be struck down.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request by C-SPAN to broadcast the two-hour hearing, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. The court said C-SPAN would provide its tape to other broadcast media that receive court permission to televise the hearing. (LA Times)
Now, the thing about the Prop 8 litigation, as somebody who sat in on several days of it, is that the defense really had no case whatsoever. They relied completely on the high burden of proof that the opponents of the measure have to prove to get it struck down. Now, that's not an entirely untenable legal position. After all, the standard is quite high. However, in this situation, with the world watching, you would think that they would have attempted to put on a bit more of a case.
Unfortunately for them, there just wasn't any "there" there. Nobody was willing to be cross-examined by Boies, and the two "experts" that did testify a) weren't really experts and b) did more help for the opponents to the measure.
Televising the oral arguments certainly isn't as good as had the state and nation been able to see the actual trial. Trust me, it was good. However, this should be seen by the world for what it is. Discrimination should not be allowed to stand, whether a slight majority wants it stand or not. There are certain rights that just should not go to a plebiscite. |
