closing arguments
...now browsing by tag
Sunday, June 27th, 2010
Just hours after Judge Vaughn R. Walker banged the final gavel in the trial of Proposition 8 – California’s same-sex marriage ban – the two top lawyers challenging the law, David Boies and Theodore Olson, were holding court again: this time at a small private dinner with donors in San Francisco.
The meal, with a handful of people who have given money to the group challenging the ban, could well be seen as the opening maneuver in the second act of the saga of Proposition 8, which both sides expect to wind its way up the federal judicial food chain, most likely all the way to the Supreme Court.
“We would immediately appeal,” Andrew Pugno, a lawyer for the proponents of Proposition 8, said when asked if his side were to lose in Judge Walker’s court. The plaintiffs agree.
Full Story from the NY Times
Click here for gay marriage resources in California.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: analysis, closing arguments, federal trial, Gay Marriage, Judge walker, marriage equality, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage
Friday, June 18th, 2010
Attached are .pdf files of the official transcripts from yesterday’s closing arguments in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal case challenging the constitutionality of Prop 8. Please, please, read them for yourself!
I am more than ever convinced that trials on constitutional issues need to be televised (or at least made available on the web) so that citizens can see how the legal arguments are made. The misunderstanding of the difference between a legal argument, an emotional argument and a religious argument has led to so much civil (or rather incivil) disruption and hard feelings. But most people don’t understand enough of the U.S. Constitution to get that “majority rule” is not the principle of our representative democracy. The constitution is designed to protect us from majority rule.
And that works as much for conservatives as it does for liberals, as if those terms have any real meaning any more. It certainly works better for religion if it is kept separate from the state. I had the privilege recently of hearing a history professor lecture about the colonial period, the foundation of the United States, the First Great Awakening, and the ideal of separation of church and state. It was eye-opening to realize how determined to make this a secular nation Isaac Backus, a founder of the American Baptists, was.
Full Story from Kel’s Hot Flash
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Response »
Tags: closing arguments, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, prop 8 trial, same sex marriage, transcripts
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
It’s been several months since the parties wrapped up the presentation of evidence in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Since then, they’ve been fighting over some issues about evidence, which are now all resolved. Today, the advocates reconvened for a full day of closing arguments, watched closely by hundreds of spectators in two overflow courtrooms.
In closing arguments, attorneys summarize the most important evidence from trial that supports their side. Today’s arguments overwhelmingly demonstrated the volume and strength of the plaintiffs’ evidence, and the complete lack of evidence in support of Proposition 8.
Theodore Olson of Gibson, Dunn did a masterful job for the plaintiffs. He focused his presentation on the two plaintiff couples’ moving testimony about why marriage is important to them. Olson also highlighted the testimony from all of the expert witnesses – on both sides of the case – who unanimously agreed that marriage would enhance the well-being of same-sex couples and their kids.
Full Story from Pam’s House Blend
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Response »
Tags: analysis, closing arguments, federal trial, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, nclr, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
So, that is over. Well, it is minus the little part about Judge Vaughn Walker issuing his ruling. But both sides – AFER’s Olson-Boies and ProtectMarriage.com’s Charles Cooper – have rested their cases. And even if you’re a supporter of Prop 8, you’ve got to admit: the defense blew it.
In Perry v. Schwarzenegger, it was Olson and Boies, on behalf of their gay couple defendants, who were required to prove their case: That Prop 8 is unconstitutional, was motivated by animus, and must be struck down. They did it. More than adequately. And they didn’t just make the legal argument (which we’re well aware is the most important), but the logical one – how legalizing same-sex marriage won’t keep straight couples from getting married or having kids, and how re-authorizing marriages for gay couples will make more families more stable. And without question, Cooper’s roster of “experts” completely annihilated ProtectMarriage.com’s core arguments. There’s just no way around it; their own witnesses admitted laws like the Defense of Marriage Act, similar in many ways to Prop 8, are discriminatory. And how legalizing same-sex marriage is – wait for it, wait for it – a good thing.
The entire production was an embarrassment for the defense. That is an objective observation. And Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage (which was not a defendant in the case), accidentally confirmed as much in a live chat following Wednesday’s closing arguments.
Full Story from Queerty
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Responses »
Tags: analysis, closing arguments, federal trial, Gay Marriage, Judge walker, marriage equality, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Attorney Charles Cooper made his final argument that California’s ban on same-sex marriages should be upheld as constitutional by telling Chief District Judge Vaughn Walker: “Your honor, you don’t have to have evidence for this.”
The judge appeared mildly surprised. But Cooper’s novel argument was in keeping with the minimalist defense he and his legal team mounted to uphold Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage in 2008. During the trial phase in January, the defense called only two witnesses.
In his closing argument Wednesday, Cooper made the case that marriage has traditionally been defined as between a man and a woman. There is no compelling reason to change that today, he said.
Full Story from AOL News
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: closing arguments, federal trial, Gay Marriage, Judge walker, marriage equality, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Gay Marriage Events Today/Tomorrow (Full Events List & Details: http://www.purpleunions.com/mn/gay-marriage-events-list.html):
–USA, CA, Los Angeles: 06/17, Voter Canvass Training, The Village, 6:30-9:30 PM.
–USA, CA, Sacramento: 06/16, Phonebanking for Volunteers, Equality CA Office, 6-9 PM.
–USA, CA, Sacramento: 06/17, Phonebanking for Equality, Equality CA Office, 6-9 PM.
–USA, CA, San Francisco: 06/17, One Struggle One Fight Meeting, 209 Golden Gate Ave, 7 PM.
–USA, CA, San Jose: 06/17, Prop 8 Closing Arguments Forum, TBA.
–USA, CA, West Hollywood: 06/16, Equal Network Meeting, Plummer Pk Comm Ctr, 7-9:30 PM.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: closing arguments, events, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, meetings, phonebanking, phonebanks, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
The federal judge presiding over a trial on California’s Proposition 8 issued a list today of 39 wide-ranging questions to be answered in closing arguments in San Francisco next week.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker is conducting a nonjury trial on a lawsuit in which two couples contend that Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban enacted by state voters in 2008, is unconstitutional. The trial is the nation’s first on a U.S. constitutional challenge to a prohibition on gay marriage.
Walker heard two and a half weeks of testimony in January and has scheduled a daylong hearing on closing arguments on June 16. The queries posed by Walker cover all sides and angles of the case on topics ranging from voter intent and the role of churches in the 2008 election campaign to the definition and purpose of marriage.
Full Story from SF Appeal
Click here for gay marriage resources in California.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: closing arguments, federal trial, Gay Marriage, Judge walker, marriage equality, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
The sponsors of California’s ban on same-sex marriage asked a federal judge in San Francisco today to refuse to allow a broadcast of closing arguments on whether the measure is constitutional. The closing arguments in a lawsuit challenging the voter-approved Proposition 8 are tentatively scheduled for June 16 in the court of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.
Charles Cooper, a lawyer for the Proposition 8 sponsors, argued in a letter to Walker that a U.S. Supreme Court order blocking televising of the testimony portion of the trial in January should also apply to the closing arguments.
Cooper wrote that possible negative effects of broadcasting on judges and lawyers include “distraction, grandstanding and avoidance of unpopular decisions or positions.” The letter asks that a request by 12 media organizations to broadcast the arguments should be “promptly rejected.”
Full Story from NBC Bay Area
Click here for gay marriage resources in California.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Response »
Tags: broadcast, closing arguments, federal trial, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Baptist minister and clinical psychologist George Rekers has devoted himself to “curing” homosexuality, co-founded the far-right Family Research Council, and “played a significant role in many of the ugliest assaults on gay people and their civil rights over the last three decades.” Most recently, this anti-gay zealot became infamous for getting caught at the Miami International Airport with a “rent boy.” The male escort, Jo-vanni Roman, said that he gave Rekers “nude ‘sexual’ massages” every day during their two-week trip to London and Madrid.
Since then, Rekers has been causing all sorts of awkwardness for the Republicans, who have heartily embraced him in the past. Rekers, for example, was Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum’s (R) star witness in a case arguing why same-sex couples are unfit to adopt children. Rekers may even be a problem in cases where he didn’t testify. Today, the New York Times reports on his role in the high-profile challenge to California’s marriage equality ban:
Dr. Rekers did not testify in that case, but his views, in the form of a declaration filed in a previous case, were cited in the documents prepared for trial by two men initially identified as expert witnesses. (Only one, David Blankenhorn of the Institute for American Values, testified.) The question of whether sexual orientation could be altered through therapy was also discussed extensively in court.
Full Story from Think Progress
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: broadcast, closing arguments, federal case, federal trial, Gay Marriage, george rekers, marriage equality, prop 8, proposition 8, rent boyproposition 8, same sex marriage
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
A bid to broadcast part of a historic same-sex marriage trial resurfaced in federal court in San Francisco Tuesday. A group of 12 media organizations formally asked U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to allow cameras in the courtroom for the final arguments in a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban on gay and lesbian marriage.
Attorney Thomas Burke wrote that the organizations, known as the Media Coalition, are interested in “recording, broadcasting and webcasting the closing arguments.” The arguments are tentatively scheduled for June 16.
Testimony in the nonjury trial was heard by Walker in January and was not televised because the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a broadcast plan by a 5-4 vote.
Full Story from CBS5
Click here for gay marriage resources.
To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.
Posted in Uncategorized | No Responses »
Tags: broadcast, closing arguments, federal trial, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, prop 8, proposition 8, same sex marriage
