Prop 8 is being challenged in federal court right now in CA and it’s been making major news outlets so let me quickly address some of the most frequently asked questions:

I thought we were supposed to get video of the trial?
Yes so did I but the anti-gay side is paranoid about having to show their faces in public after the horrible things they say about gay people.  They went so far as to file an emergency request with the US Supreme Court which put a temporary halt on video.  Justice Kennedy approved the temporary request and the full Supreme Court will review the request today (Wednesday).  In the event the court approves of video, saved footage of the last two days of the trial will be released.  More at the LA Times.

So how can I follow the trial?
OutFront’s blog is providing play-by-play coverage, here’s a link to their day-2 coverage.  We may not have video just yet of the trial but there’s about a zillion gay activists in the courtroom typing everything that happens into their Blackberries and out onto the internets.

The anti-gay side in the trial don’t seem to be trying very hard?
That’s because they don’t expect to win the current trial and know the case will eventually work it’s way up to the US Supreme Court which is far more conservative.  Brian Brown of NOM said in a fundraising email “We do not expect to win at the trial level, but with God’s help, at least five members of the current Supreme Court will have the courage to defend our Constitution from this grave attack.”

Why is this a big gamble?
If the Prop 8 case makes it to the US Supreme Court and the court rules that no gays don’t have the right to get married it would set damaging legal precedent.  Courts at all levels rely on decisions made at the Supreme Court and thus having the court rule against us would instruct all lower courts to rule on LGBT issues using the findings of the high court.  Also, the court rarely re-visits issues quickly since the court doesn’t hear every case that works it’s way up to their desks.  Example: In 1986 the US Supreme Court declined to strike down sodomy laws in Bowers v. Hardwick. It wasn’t until 2003 that the court revisited the sodomy law issue finally striking them down in Lawrence v. Texas.

Photo of the Olson/Boies legal team via flickr

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 9:15 am and is filed under marriage equality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.