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10:18 AM: The U.S. Supreme Court this morning blocked the planned YouTube broadcast of a federal trial in San Francisco on the constitutionality of California’s same-sex marriage ban.
The court said in a brief order that the stay will remain in effect until Wednesday while the court gives further consideration to an appeal in which the sponsors of Proposition 8 are seeking to prevent the video coverage.
Same-sex marriage advocates responded quickly to the order this morning.
The group Courage Campaign noted that more than 140,000 people had signed a letter from the group to Judge Vaughn Walker, who is presiding over the trial, asking that the proceedings be televised.
“While we are disappointed that the Supreme Court is postponing public access to the most important civil rights trial in a generation, the opportunity still remains for the nation’s highest court to open up this trial so the American people can witness history,” Courage Campaign chair Rick Jacobs said in a prepared statement.
Court officials had planned to allow members of the public to watch the trial remotely at a handful of federal courthouses throughout the country. Today’s viewings have been canceled.
Viewings had been scheduled at the James R. Browning U.S. Courthouse on Seventh Street in San Francisco and at federal courthouses in Pasadena, Calif., Portland, Ore., Seattle, Wash., and Brooklyn, N.Y.
About 100 people gathered early this morning outside the federal courthouse on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco where the trial is taking place.
Most showed up to oppose the proposition, and carried signs reading “Separate is unequal” and “Marriage is a basic civil right.”
A handful of those gathered supported the ban, and one carried a sign reading, “Marriage = One man + One woman.”
The trial began at 9 a.m.
8:56 AM: About 100 people gathered outside the federal courthouse in San Francisco this morning where a trial on Proposition 8 gets under way today.
Most showed up to oppose the proposition, which banned same-sex marriage in California, and carried signs reading “Separate is unequal” and “Marriage is a basic civil right.”
A handful of those gathered supported the ban, and one carried a sign reading, “Marriage = one man + one woman.”
The trial was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.
8:38 AM: The U.S. Supreme Court this morning blocked the planned YouTube broadcast of a federal trial in San Francisco on the constitutionality of
California’s same-sex marriage ban.
The court said in a brief order that the stay will remain in effect until Wednesday while the court gives further consideration to an appeal in which the sponsors of Proposition 8 are seeking to prevent the video coverage.
