Appeals Court Delays Release of Proposition 8 Trial Tapes
A federal appeals court has delayed the release of video recordings of last year’s trial on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
A panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday it would stay a lower court order to make the videos public on Sept. 30 so it can be briefed on the matter, according to Associated Press.
Lawyers for a coalition of religious and conservative groups that qualified the ban for the November 2008 ballot have appealed federal judge James Ware’s decision to release the videotapes.
Ware ruled last week that the public has a right to access the recordings as it would any other court record, although the judge who presided over the trial said the videos were for his own personal use.
The 9th Circuit asked both sides to get their written arguments in by Oct. 10. The appeals court is already considering whether another federal judge erred when he struck down the ban on same-sex marriage.
