Just minutes ago, the United States Supreme Court stayed the order of Judge Vaughn Walker that would have allowed for streaming video in the case challenging Proposition 8, Perry v Schwarzenegger. Walker previously had agreed to provide a video stream of the trial on a daily basis through YouTube. The Perry case would have been the first trial ever in the Ninth Circuit where cameras had been allowed in the courtroom. ProtectMarriage.com vigorously fought Walker’s order by appealing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and then filing an emergency appeal with Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.
The stay order is in effect until Wednesday, January 13th at 4:00pm eastern time to permit the Supreme Court time for further consideration.
Andy Pugno, General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com said, “The temporary stay of Judge Walker’s ruling to allow broadcast of the Perry v Schwarzenegger trial is a good sign that the full United States Supreme Court will give this immediate attention and hopefully protect our right to a fair and impartial trial.”
The full text of the order is below.
Upon consideration of the application for stay presented to
Justice Kennedy and by him referred to the Court, it is ordered
that the order of the United States District Court for the
Northern District of California, case No. 3:09-cv-02292,
permitting real-time streaming is stayed except as it permits
streaming to other rooms within the confines of the courthouse in
which the trial is to be held. Any additional order permitting
broadcast of the proceedings is also stayed pending further order
of this Court. To permit further consideration in this Court,
this order will remain in effect until Wednesday, January 13,
2010, at 4 p.m. eastern time
CORRECTION: The initial version of this post said the story was issued by Justice Kennedy. The stay was issued by the full court.
