Prop. 8 suit closing arguments may be televised

[Kadie]

Prop. 8 suit closing arguments may be televised
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 25, 2010


(02-25) 14:35 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite a rebuff from the U.S. Supreme Court, the Bay Area's federal judges are again proposing to allow cameras in their courtrooms, a plan that could lead to telecasting of closing arguments in a suit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage.

The U.S. District Court in San Francisco has posted a rule change on its Web site that would allow its judges to take part in a pilot program of airing selected non-jury civil trials. The public comment period began Feb. 4 and ends next Thursday.

The proposal is the same one Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker adopted in January after a week of overwhelmingly favorable public comment. But the Supreme Court intervened when Walker approved camera coverage of the trial over Proposition 8, the November 2008 initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage.

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The justices cited statements by Prop. 8's sponsors that telecasting outside the courthouse would intimidate their witnesses. Sponsors withdrew four of their six scheduled witnesses, all academic experts, when the trial started Jan. 11 and did not reinstate them after the court barred cameras.

No federal trial in California has ever been shown on television or the Internet. Walker had proposed live, closed-circuit telecasts of the Prop. 8 trial to a few other federal courthouses and a delayed posting on YouTube.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/25/BA1D1C76BK.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0gatuAQrU