Litigation

Prop 8 Trial: Almost Done, But Not Concluded

By Peter Hardin

Although the final arguments this week in California’s historic same-sex marriage trial won’t be televised, they will get attention nationwide.

Federal Judge Vaughn Walker is not expected to rule from the bench Wednesday, which adds to the suspense. The stakes of the case are high for both sides, and it also has a high profile in the political landscape.

As A Wall Street Journal article put it, “The legal battle is expected to march on?perhaps to the Supreme Court?while political jockeying on the issue keeps rippling through November’s elections.”

Adding to the drama is the man-bites-dog aspect of a star lawyer with conservative credentials representing those challenging Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage.

It “is the most compelling, emotionally moving, important case that I have been involved in in my entire life,” Theodore B. Olson told law students at a gathering earlier this year, according to a Washington Post profile. He was solicitor general under President George W. Bush.

It has been four-and-a-half weeks since trial testimony concluded, an Associated Press article reported, and Judge Walker has submitted a list of 39 difficult questions he wants the opposing sides to answer.

Other articles about the finish of the trial appear in the Los Angeles Times and NPR’s Morning Edition programming.

To learn more about the trial, check out Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on June 15, 2010 (boomark / email).