California Gay Marriage Trial Allowed to Be Broadcast (Update1)
By Karen Gullo, www.businessweek.com
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — A federal judge in California said a trial starting Jan. 11 on the constitutionality of the state’s ban on gay marriage can be broadcast over YouTube, the video- sharing site owned by Google Inc.
Over objections of lawyers for supporters of the ban who said their witnesses might be harassed, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco said the case is appropriate for broadcast because it provides the public with an opportunity to see how courts work.
“This is a case which merits a very serious consideration for widespread distribution,” Walker said in a hearing today. The case deals with important issues that “people think about, talk about, debate about, consider. So I think it’s worth trying in this case,” he said.
The case is Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 3:09-02292, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
–Editor: Peter Blumberg
To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Gullo in San Francisco at +1-415-355-1916 or kgu...@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at +1-212-617-1092 or drov...@bloomberg.net.
