By Lisa Keen on July 8, 2010
In an enormous victory for same-sex marriage, a federal judge in Boston today ruled, in two separate cases, that a critical part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on June 20, 2010
Posted in Podcast
By Lisa Keen on June 16, 2010
There were so many people trying to get in to watch the final day of the landmark trial challenging California’s same-sex marriage ban, the court staff had to set up an additional overflow room for observers.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on June 16, 2010
Conservative attorney Ted Olson relied heavily this morning on comparisons between the current ban on same-sex marriage and the ban that existed in the 1960’s on interracial marriage.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on June 14, 2010
Closing arguments get underway Wednesday in the Proposition 8 case in California, and attorneys representing the various officials who campaigned for the ban on same-sex marriage were just dealt another blow.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on June 12, 2010
Posted in Podcast
By Lisa Keen on June 10, 2010
U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker gave no explanation late Wednesday for his decision to keep cameras out of the courtroom next week when he hears closing arguments in the landmark Proposition 8 trial.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on June 9, 2010
The federal judge presiding over the highly publicized Proposition 8 trial distributed to attorneys on both sides of the controversy a list of 39 questions he’d like them to address during closing arguments June 16. It’s the kind of list, said one veteran gay legal scholar, that promises his decision will likely be a “blockbuster in its scope.”
Posted in A Closer Look, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, U.S. Circuit Courts
By Lisa Keen on May 23, 2010
Posted in Podcast
By Lisa Keen on May 13, 2010
The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday morning recommended the nomination of pro-gay law professor Goodwin Liu to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals by a vote of 12 to 7.
Posted in News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on May 2, 2010
For the second time this month, the U.S. Supreme Court’s most conservative member, Justice Antonin Scalia, on Wednesday took a surprising position—one that is helpful to gay civil rights.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on April 30, 2010
Posted in Podcast
By Lisa Keen on April 26, 2010
U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker issued a warning on Sunday afternoon to Equality California and the ACLU, giving them 48 hours to turn over documents sought by the proponents of Proposition 8. If the groups fail to comply, they will be held in contempt of court and fined $2,000 per day each, according to the order.
Posted in News Briefs
By Dana Rudolph on April 25, 2010
Posted in Podcast
By Lisa Keen on April 22, 2010
A sidelines skirmish over document production in the Proposition 8 lawsuit rages on this month, forcing the continued delay of closing arguments and, ultimately, a decision on the constitutionality of California’s ban on same-sex marriage. And Ted Olson, the well-known conservative attorney leading the litigation against the ban, accused the ACLU and Yes on 8 proponents of “delaying the progress” of the trial.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, News, News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on April 13, 2010
A 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel dismissed the appeal of two groups opposing Proposition 8 in which the groups sought to stop a district court order that they turn over documents to Yes on 8 groups.
The three-judge panel said it lacks jurisdiction at this point to review U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s order that the groups—which are not a party to the Perry v. Schwarzenegger lawsuit.
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, News, News Briefs
By Lisa Keen on March 24, 2010
A snag in completion of the landmark Proposition 8 trial has now become a full-fledged entanglement. The issue? Whether three groups that are not a party to the Perry v. Schwarzenegger lawsuit can be forced to turn over their own e-mails and memoranda to the defendants in the case.
Posted in Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
By Lisa Keen on February 15, 2010
In just a couple of months, speculation concerning the retirement of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens will once again rev up. He’ll turn 90 in April and, last fall when justices typically do, he did not hire a full complement of clerks for the 2010-11 session.
Posted in A Closer Look, Federal Courts, Law, News, U.S. Supreme Court
By Lisa Keen on February 10, 2010
With no named sources and a “no comment” from the judge, the San Francisco Chronicle this week reported that it is an “open secret” in San Francisco that the federal judge presiding over the Proposition 8 trial “is himself gay.”
Posted in Federal Courts, Law, Lawsuits, News
By Lisa Keen on January 31, 2010
The fact that Therese Stewart didn’t get much publicity during the landmark federal court trial challenging Proposition 8 isn’t really a surprise: Lesbians do tend to be invisible.
Posted in Ballot Measures, Federal Courts, Issues, Law, Lawsuits, Marriage/Relationships, News
Gay issues continue to dominate as Senate committee recommends Kagan’s nomination
ENDA prospects apparently gone
DADT trial opens to little notice
Movement to ban gay adoption: sacrificing the well-being of children