CA: Prop 8 Supporters Appeal Trial You Tube Posting to Supreme Court

Reporting from Washington - The lawyers defending California's Proposition 8 and its ban on same-sex marriage urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday to block video coverage of this week's trial in San Francisco. The attorneys filed an emergency appeal with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and argued that their client's right to a fair trial would be jeopardized if each day's proceedings were posted on YouTube.com. The trial "has the potential to become a media circus," wrote attorney Charles Cooper. "The record is already replete with evidence showing that any publicizing of support for Prop. 8 has inevitably led to harassment, economic reprisal, threats and even physical violence. In this atmosphere, witnesses are understandably quite distressed at the prospect of their testimony being broadcast worldwide on YouTube." Kennedy asked the state to respond by noon today. Full Story from The LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prop8-youtube10-2010jan10,0,4086311.story

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CA: Prop 8 Trial Can Be Shown on YouTube, Judge Says

The federal trial on the constitutionality of California's same-sex marriage ban beginning next week will be videotaped and uploaded to a video-sharing Web site, the presiding judge ruled Wednesday. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who first floated the idea of broadcasting the highly anticipated proceedings live several months ago, said he decided instead to have court employees record the trial for delayed broadcast on Google's YouTube Web site. Walker did not explicitly say why he favored a system that could keep the proceedings from being aired for hours instead of one that allowed for simultaneous broadcast. But he said he felt strongly that "it's important for the transmission to be absolutely within the court's control." It will be the first federal trial in a Western state and one of only a handful nationwide to be taped and aired in public in any form. It also will be the first federal trial on whether denying gays the right to wed constitutes unlawful discrimination to be taped and offered to the public. Full Story from ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9501129

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