March 28, 2024 / by 

 

Perry v. Schwarzenegger Prop 8 Closings Wrap Up

FDL Covers the Prop 8 Trial

Greetings from the United States Federal Courthouse for the Northern District of California where Marcy Wheeler, Teddy Partridge and I spent Wednesday covering closing arguments in Perry et al. v. Schwarzenegger et al. It was quite a day and, despite the solemn nature of court proceedings, a monumental and electric day. To be honest, the electricity is far more in the people, whether the plaintiffs, defendants, or the myriad of people here to witness the proceedings on what is without any question a unique and groundbreaking case.

Very early on, quite frankly I think before anyone else, I described Perry as the modern day equivalent to the Scopes Monkey Trial. I still very much stand by that comparison in the way both matters laid bare the raw bigotry of the private prejudice and hatred sought to be continued to be effected through the public government. For all the claimed exceptionalism of America, we still have so far to go.

You have already had the real time live blog from Marcy and Teddy, and their reportage was absolutely stunningly good. I have had the privilege of covering the actual live courtroom for the day. And a privilege it was too. Unfortunately, there was not usable WiFi or 3G coverage from my seat and I had to text my reports to Egregious and Marcy and have them cut and paste in. Simply put, Firedoglake had a large team working the Prop 8 proceedings for you — some you see, some behind the scenes, including the wonderful moderators. There is a lot to getting this level of coverage; if you have a dollar or two to support the effort, it really does help as it is you that allows us to bring this work to one and all.

In closing on the live portion of Wednesday’s coverage, I want to leave you with links to the set of questions Judge Vaughn Walker propounded prior to today’s closings and the respective answers of the two main parties. They are absolutely germane and critical to the full understanding of what occurred in both the trial and, more importantly, the summations today. You have plenty of time to review them all at your leisure, but I recommend that you all do so. It is the crux of one of the most significant and game changing trials that will occur in your lifetime. Yes, the case, and its broad civil rights and liberties implications is literally that significant. Thank you for the privilege folks!

Here is Judge Walker’s question set

Here are the answers of Plaintiffs Perry et al.

Here are the answers of Defendants/Intervenors

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Originally Posted @ https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/vaughn-walker/page/3/