ProtectMarriage.com legal team seeks order for return of Prop. 8 trial recordings

SAN FRANCISCO — The ProtectMarriage.com legal team filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit Wednesday in Perry v. Brown requesting an order “that former district judge Vaughn Walker cease further disclosures of the video recordings of the trial proceedings in this case” and that all copies be returned to the court.

According to the motion, “On February 18, 2011, Judge Walker delivered a speech at the University of Arizona in which he played a portion of the video recording of the cross-examination of one of Proponents’ expert witnesses in the trial of this case. The speech was video taped by C-SPAN, and it was subsequently broadcast on CSPAN several times beginning on March 22.”

“The American people deserve a court system that upholds the integrity of the judicial process,” said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Brian Raum. “Judge Walker’s public showing of the Perry trial video was prohibited by governing court rules, court orders, and the U.S. Supreme Court. And perhaps most disturbingly, his actions contradict his representation to the parties and witnesses in open court that he would use the video recording only in his private chambers to assist him in evaluating the case. This kind of behavior threatens to undermine the public’s confidence in the federal court system.” 

• Pronunciation guide: Raum (RAHM’)

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.