Posted on 12/11/2009 7:03:00 PM PST by XHogPilot
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court in San Francisco has reversed a judge's order that backers of Proposition 8, the state initiative that banned same-sex marriage, give their campaign strategy documents to opponents trying to overturn the measure.
In a unanimous ruling today, the Ninth U.S. Circuit of Appeals tossed out the order that Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker issued in October against backers of Prop. 8, which state voters approved in November 2008.
Walker had said lawyers for two same-sex couples and a gay-rights group were entitled to see internal memos and e-mails between Yes on 8 strategists to look for evidence that the campaign had exploited prejudice against gays and lesbians.
The plaintiffs are trying to show that the measure was discriminatory and thus unconstitutional.
Prop. 8 sponsors argued that their discussions were constitutionally protected and that Walker's order would discourage candid communications in political campaigns. The three-judge appeals court panel unanimously agreed.
"The freedom to associate with others for the common advancement of political beliefs and ideas lies at the heart of the First Amendment," Judge Raymond Fisher wrote for the court. Prop. 8 proponents, he said, had shown that turning over the documents "would likely have a chilling effect on political association and the formulation of political expression."
The court had suspended Walker's order last week and signaled that it intended to reverse it.
The trial over the lawsuit is still scheduled to begin Jan. 11 (snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Evil never ends my FRiend. Be vigilant and fight the good fight. We won a minor skirmish.
Only when legislatures start firing judges like Vaughn Walker with a pointed suggestion that real work is good for the soul.
9th circus...
Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
There, fixed it.
The ACLU filed a brief supporting the pro-8 defendants because they saw a disaster looming if a precedent was set and a similar reverse case occured. The "progressives" are likely to have enormously greater numbers of egregious criminal conspiratorial rights abuses that would be revealed upon legal discovery.
Q.E.D.
WOW, they must have had a bad case if the 9th Circus ruled this way.
Yes, it will end. With fire and brimstone.
Saw a Hog today, on the ramp at Gray Army Airfield (West Fort Hood). Poor lonely thing was all by itself, except for a nearby Army RC-12 (local bird), an Army Shorts theater transport (Used for testing various Army stuff that gets shoved out of airlanes), and a couple of light “executive transports” or possibly TTB trainers.
What is QED?
Thanks
Thanks for the reminder!
In the 9th circus they spin a wheel, if the ball drops into “double zero” they rule honestly. This must have been such a spin.
thanks and you did.
Post on.
always cool to learn something new.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2006/10/20/911-widower-ted-olson-back-at-the-altar.html
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