By Jacob Combs
As usual, Ari Ezra Waldman has an enlightening and in-depth piece over at Towleroad about yesterday’s hearing at the 9th Circuit. Of course, his post is worth reading through completely, but here are some of the highlights of his argument.
Waldman wrote this summer about the challenges facing our side’s attorneys in getting the tapes released, given that there is no previous case with similar circumstances and thus no precedent for the appeals panel to rely on. In his piece about yesterday’s hearings, Waldman reflects on the judges’ seeming hesitancy regarding making the recordings public:
Releasing the videotapes — records created by and kept by Judge Walker for his use in chambers — is a good idea, but a tough call on the law. My previous argument noted that, for better or for worse, we usually make public a trial transcript, but do not normally televise or release video of trials; therefore, any motion to do so requires special justification. Releasing the videotapes would be transcript plus, so we would need a sufficient reason for tack on the plus. However, attorneys for the various media outlets supporting release have argued that the Prop 8 proponents have to offer specific reasons why the tapes should not be released, suggesting that keeping the tapes under wraps is a special departure from the norm requiring justifications. The policy arguments favoring release are extraordinarily strong, but that does not mean the law is on our side.
As for the motion to vacate, Waldman points out that the proponents’ argument that Judge Walker should recuse himself because he is in a relationship with a man isn’t just discriminatory, it disregards the tradition of an independent judiciary:
It presumes that judges’ personal views necessarily infect their professional conduct, which not only flies in the face of reason, but contradicts a tenet of Anglo-American law since the Norman invasion.
Check out Waldman’s piece for a much more detailed analysis. In short, though, he believes the motion to vacate will be denied, the tapes will remain under seal, and (eventually, but hopefully not in the distant future) the 9th Circuit will uphold Judge Walker’s ruling, restoring marriage equality to California.
The post Towleroad’s Ari Ezra Waldman on Yesterday’s Hearings appeared first on Equality On Trial.
