SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A federal appeals
court ruled unanimously on Thursday that video recordings of a
trial over California's same-sex marriage law must not be
publicly released.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the recordings,
which featured sometimes emotional testimony, should not be
disclosed because the trial judge had told the two
sides that the tapes would not be made public.
The trial, in San Francisco in 2010, found that California's
ban on same-sex marriages, the result of a ballot initiative
known as Proposition 8, was unconstitutional.
Supporters of Proposition 8 have appealed that ruling, and
the main constitutional issues have yet to be decided by the 9th
Circuit. Several ancillary issues, including the fate of the
video tapes, have been litigated at the same time.
Before the 2010 trial, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker proposed broadcasting the proceedings to the public, but
was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court. Walker then ordered
recordings of the trial as an aid to his own deliberations.
After the trial was over and Walker retired from the bench,
same-sex marriage advocates asked Chief Judge James Ware in San
Francisco to release the tapes .
Ware agreed to do so, but in an opinion on Thursday, the 9th
Circuit reversed him, citing Walker's statements that he would
not make the tapes public.
"The integrity of our judicial system depends in no small
part on the ability of litigants and members of the public to
rely on a judge's word," 9th Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt
wrote in the decision.
Theodore Boutrous, who represents the two gay couples who
are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said his clients are hoping for a
ruling on the merits soon.
"It speaks volumes that the proponents of Proposition 8 are
so insistent about concealing the videotaped record of this
historic trial," Boutrous said in a statement.
Andy Pugno, general counsel for the proponents of
Proposition 8, said he welcomed the 9th Circuit ruling.
"The issue here was not whether federal trials should
be televised," Pugno said in a statement. "Instead, this is
about a judge who became so obsessed with striking down
traditional marriage that he found himself disregarding the law
and turning the trial proceedings into a sham."
Judges Michael Daily Hawkins and N.R. Smith joined
Reinhardt's opinion.
The case in the 9th Circuit is Kristin M. Perry et al. vs.
Edmund G. Brown Jr. et al., 11-17255.
(Reporting By Dan Levine)
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