American Foundation for Equal Rights

News Roundup: Court Rejects Attempt to Throw out Prop. 8 Ruling

California Judge Upholds a Ruling on Gay Marriage

The New York Times | By Ian Lovett

“This decision is in line with decisions in the areas of gender, race and ethnicity and religious background,” Mr. Boutrous said. “This is a powerful statement about gays and lesbians deciding gay cases.”
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Gay Judge’s ruling on Calif. Gay Marriage Upheld

Associated Press| Lisa Leff

In a 19-page decision responding to the first attempt in the nation to disqualify a judge because of his sexual orientation, Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker had no obligation to divulge whether he wanted to marry his same-sex partner before he declared last year that voter-approved Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.
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Gay Judge Wasn’t Required to Remove Himself from Same-sex Marriage Case, U.S. Judge Rules

Los Angeles Times | By Maura Dolan

USC law professor Clare Pastore, who teaches legal ethics, said the ruling reflects “precisely where we were 30 years ago with African American and women judges, when those [recusal] motions went down in flames.”
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Gay Judge’s California Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Upheld

Reuters | By Dan Levine and Peter Henderson

“In pointed language, Ware slapped down the attempt to throw out his gay former colleague’s decision as an attack on standards of judicial impartiality, saying it ignored the idea that protecting the rights of minorities benefits all.”
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A clear rejection of unwarranted attack on judge

Sacramento Bee Editorial

“The ultimate fate of Prop. 8, the ballot measure that voters approved in 2008 banning same-sex unions in the state, will almost certainly be resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court. It should be decided on the law, not on the kinds of spurious arguments that were rightly rejected Tuesday.”
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Lawyers Defending Prop 8′s Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Continue to Self-Destruct

The Huffington Post | By William K. Black, Associate Professor, University of Missouri, Kansas City

“They promised the court that they would present evidence proving that permitting same-sex marriages risked causing the extinction of humans. This represents a bizarrely irrational effort to provide a rational basis for Prop 8. The lawyers defending Prop 8 are zanier than the most homophobic televangelists.”
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Decision Overturning Same-Sex Marriage Ban, Prop. 8, Stands, Federal Judge Says

LA Weekly | By Dennis Romero

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, no stranger to the cause, stated, in part: “Today’s decision by Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware is another victory for the thousands of California couples, their families and friends who share the belief that the freedom to marry is a constitutional right for all Americans…The frivolous appeals of those who are pushing for and defending government sanctioned discrimination have been unequivocally shut down in court today.”
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Judge Slams Prop. 8 Backers for Alleging Bias in Landmark Ruling

Courthouse News ServiceĀ  | By Barbara Leonard

“The presumption that Judge Walker, by virtue of being in a same-sex relationship, had a desire to be married that rendered him incapable of making an impartial decision, is as warrantless as the presumption that a female judge is incapable of being impartial in a case in which women seek legal relief,” Ware wrote.
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