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Cross posted from the Prop 8 Trial Tracker.
Over the weekend, the Matier and Ross column in the San Francisco Chronicle "outed" Judge Vaughn Walker. As I pointed out then here at the Prop 8 Trial Tracker, Andy Pugno's response was muted. A mere suggestions of bias without a full accusation.
We are not going to say anything about that," Pugno said. ... "In many ways, the sponsors of Prop. 8 have been put at significant disadvantage throughout the case. Regardless of the reason for it."(SF Chronicle)
But, Andy Pugno had no reason to make the full-throated accusation. After all, his audience now is a more subdued one made up of judges. And, he doesn't need to rile up the base, after all, that's what the National Organization for Against Marriage (NOM) is for. And boy, do they have a doozy on their hands here. They hit all the points in a letter they sent out to their email list:
The letter, from NOM's Executive Director Brian Brown, reads pretty much the way you'd expect from NOM. There's Pugno's "we don't know if it's true, but he's really mean" line, but they quickly get to the red meat "activist" line:
We have no idea whether the report is true or not. But we do know one really big important fact about Judge Walker: He's been an amazingly biased and one-sided force throughout this trial, far more akin to an activist than a neutral referee. That's no secret at all.
I'll forgive Mr. Brown for missing my earlier post on what being a judge really means. While it sounds cute to say "neutral referee" or that they are "calling the balls and strikes," being a judge does require some judgment. It requires analysis that will vary from judge to judge. But don't worry, there's more to be horrified over:
But the most egregious, and damaging, of all of Judge Walker's rulings was his determination to violate federal rules to broadcast his show trial worldwide. The US Supreme Court eventually blocked Walker's efforts (and rapped his biased knuckles sharply!) finding that he improperly changed the rules "at the eleventh hour" in violation of federal law. (Unfortunately, however, but by the time the Supreme Court issued a permanent stay two days into trial, the supporters of Prop 8 had already lost two-thirds of their expert witnesses who feared retaliation from the publicity).
This is really the heart of where the pro-Prop 8 people are going with this. It's all about the YouTube. Their witnesses were so scared of appearing on YouTube that they couldn't possibly testify. Terrified, I tell you! But, when it comes down to it, what they were scared of was cross-examination. After seeing David Boies destroy both witnesses who did agree to hop on the stand, you can't blame them. Take LSU Professor Loren Marks. He doesn't seem so shy to appear on YouTube. Here's one of his appearances on the video sharing site.
You can go through their full original witness list here, and you won't find many wallflowers. You have Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young who together wrote a very public report in Canada about how society is now holding down men. Seriously, they wrote a book called Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men. And they've had no problem in running around to every possible open mic, camera, or group of accumulated sexists waiting to get the good news that they can go back to fighting for the rights of the downtrodden male gender.
And if you'd like, you can see clips from depositions of these folks on YouTube right now. If you watch those videos, you'll see that the reason that they were pulled from the witness has less to do with YouTube, and more to do with the testimony that they were prepared to give.
But this isn't really about the facts, is it? It's not about Judge Walker, and his sexuality. After all, you certainly didn't hear any complaints from either side about Ron George being straight. No, this is about NOM, and ProtectMarriage, and their ilk trying to do everything they can to play the public against the courts. They are setting this up for the next round. Oh, and trying to raise a few bucks along the road.
See the flip to read the full letter.
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