Man in the News | Vaughn R. Walker Conservative Jurist, With Independent Streak

[Cant trust em]

Judge Vaughn R. Walker has ruled on cases involving newspaper mergers, high-tech corporate battles and the Bush administration’s use of wiretaps without warrants. But nothing has earned him as much attention — and ire — as Wednesday’s decision declaring California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

Judge Walker, the chief judge of the Federal District Court of the Northern District of California, is no stranger to controversy. An independent-minded conservative, he has come out publicly in favor of the legalization of drugs, and ruled in 1996 that the police used reasonable force when they pepper-sprayed anti-logging protesters.

The case involving Proposition 8 could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. Judge Walker stayed his decision temporarily and agreed to consider a longer stay that would last until rulings were issued on appeals by proponents of the law. The outcome of the case cannot be predicted, but jurists could well find themselves constrained by Wednesday’s carefully structured decision.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/us/06walker.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&src=twt&twt=nytimes&adxnnlx=1281106834-rbgSIMgjLJg9YkXSjPcpbA