Cross posted from the Prop 8 Trial Tracker.
Over the weekend, the Matier and Ross column in the San Francisco Chronicle “outed” Judge Vaughn Walker. As I pointed out then here at the Prop 8 Trial Tracker, Andy Pugno’s response was muted. A mere suggestions of bias without a full accusation.
We are not going to say anything about that,” Pugno said. … “In many ways, the sponsors of Prop. 8 have been put at significant disadvantage throughout the case. Regardless of the reason for it.”(SF Chronicle)
But, Andy Pugno had no reason to make the full-throated accusation. After all, his audience now is a more subdued one made up of judges. And, he doesn’t need to rile up the base, after all, that’s what the National Organization for Against Marriage (NOM) is for. And boy, do they have a doozy on their hands here. They hit all the points in a letter they sent out to their email list:
The letter, from NOM’s Executive Director Brian Brown, reads pretty much the way you’d expect from NOM. There’s Pugno’s “we don’t know if it’s true, but he’s really mean” line, but they quickly get to the red meat “activist” line:
We have no idea whether the report is true or not. But we do know one really big important fact about Judge Walker: He’s been an amazingly biased and one-sided force throughout this trial, far more akin to an activist than a neutral referee. That’s no secret at all.
I’ll forgive Mr. Brown for missing my earlier post on what being a judge really means. While it sounds cute to say “neutral referee” or that they are “calling the balls and strikes,” being a judge does require some judgment. It requires analysis that will vary from judge to judge. But don’t worry, there’s more to be horrified over:
But the most egregious, and damaging, of all of Judge Walker’s rulings was his determination to violate federal rules to broadcast his show trial worldwide. The US Supreme Court eventually blocked Walker’s efforts (and rapped his biased knuckles sharply!) finding that he improperly changed the rules “at the eleventh hour” in violation of federal law. (Unfortunately, however, but by the time the Supreme Court issued a permanent stay two days into trial, the supporters of Prop 8 had already lost two-thirds of their expert witnesses who feared retaliation from the publicity).
This is really the heart of where the pro-Prop 8 people are going with this. It’s all about the YouTube. Their witnesses were so scared of appearing on YouTube that they couldn’t possibly testify. Terrified, I tell you! But, when it comes down to it, what they were scared of was cross-examination. After seeing David Boies destroy both witnesses who did agree to hop on the stand, you can’t blame them. Take LSU Professor Loren Marks. He doesn’t seem so shy to appear on YouTube. Here’s one of his appearances on the video sharing site.
You can go through their full original witness list here, and you won’t find many wallflowers. You have Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young who together wrote a very public report in Canada about how society is now holding down men. Seriously, they wrote a book called Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men. And they’ve had no problem in running around to every possible open mic, camera, or group of accumulated sexists waiting to get the good news that they can go back to fighting for the rights of the downtrodden male gender.
And if you’d like, you can see clips from depositions of these folks on YouTube right now. If you watch those videos, you’ll see that the reason that they were pulled from the witness has less to do with YouTube, and more to do with the testimony that they were prepared to give.
But this isn’t really about the facts, is it? It’s not about Judge Walker, and his sexuality. After all, you certainly didn’t hear any complaints from either side about Ron George being straight. No, this is about NOM, and ProtectMarriage, and their ilk trying to do everything they can to play the public against the courts. They are setting this up for the next round. Oh, and trying to raise a few bucks along the road.
See the flip to read the full letter.
Dear Friend of Marriage,
In a story this Sunday (Feb. 7), the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Prop 8 Judge Vaughn Walker is gay and called his orientation, “The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage.”
We have no idea whether the report is true or not. But we do know one really big important fact about Judge Walker: He’s been an amazingly biased and one-sided force throughout this trial, far more akin to an activist than a neutral referee. That’s no secret at all.
Protect Marriage, the defendants in this case are effectively being held hostage by Judge Walker and cannot really comment.
But Judge Walker’s bias from the bench includes:
A series of rulings permitting deep and deeply irrelevant “fishing expeditions” into the private and personal motivations and secret campaign strategy of campaign proponents. It wasn’t six guys at Protect Marriage that passed Prop 8 it was 7 million Californians. But Judge Walker went so far as to order the Prop 8 campaign to disclose private internal communications about messages that were considered for public use but never actually used. He even ordered the campaign to turn over copies of all internal records and e-mail messages relating to campaign strategy.
Even though the Prop 8 supporters were forced to turn over private, internal documents and emails, Walker has refused to demand the same from opponents of the measure. In fact, Walker has refused to even rule on a motion to compel the discovery of this information, even though he has already closed testimony in the case. That alone is an unbelievable tilting of the playing field.
Walker has presided over a show trial designed to generate sympathetic headlines and news coverage for gay marriage supporters. Witness after witness was allowed to testify about their “expert” opinion that homosexuals have been discriminated against, that they feel badly when society does not validate their relationships, and that the passage of Prop 8 was simply an echo of historic prejudice and bigotry foisted on society by religious zealots.
To show the lengths that Walker has gone to create a “record” favoring the plaintiffs, he even allowed one “expert” witness — a gay man from Colorado who has never lived in California and was never exposed to any Prop 8 campaign messages — to testify that his parents’ efforts to change his sexual orientation failed.
But the most egregious, and damaging, of all of Judge Walker’s rulings was his determination to violate federal rules to broadcast his show trial worldwide. The US Supreme Court eventually blocked Walker’s efforts (and rapped his biased knuckles sharply!) finding that he improperly changed the rules “at the eleventh hour” in violation of federal law. (Unfortunately, however, but by the time the Supreme Court issued a permanent stay two days into trial, the supporters of Prop 8 had already lost two-thirds of their expert witnesses who feared retaliation from the publicity).
Judge Walker’s bias has been so extreme, he’s earned a rare judicial “twofer.” Key elements of his “fishing expedition” rulings were already reversed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (notably one of the most liberal in the nation) and the Supreme Court had to step in to block his illegal attempt to broadcast the trial.
It is highly unusual for a higher court to have to intercede in a trial judge’s handling of a trial while it is going on — yet Walker has had that “distinction” twice in the same case — and we’re not yet even at closing arguments.
There’s only one saving grace to Judge Walker’s bias. It’s so big, and so obvious, not only the American public but the Supreme Court itself is already aware we have bias in the trial judge presiding.
Faithfully,
s
Brian S. Brown
Executive Director