Posts Tagged As: David Boies
January 6th, 2010
On January 11, Ted Olson and David Boies will begin their case against Proposition 8, arguing that it runs contrary to the US Constitution. In a strange turn of events, the case will be recorded but not made available for live media coverage. (SJ Merc)
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker approved court-operated cameras in his courtroom for delayed release on YouTube, but rejected a bid by media organizations to televise the proceedings themselves for live broadcast.
Walker, by approving some broadcast of the Proposition 8 trial, became the first federal judge in the West to make use of an experimental program put in place recently by the 9th Circuit Judicial Council, which sets policy for federal courts in nine states, including California.
Supporters of Proposition 8 had argued against any public presentation of the trial, saying that their witnesses were reluctant to testify if their testimony was made available to public scrutiny.
They used one of the anti-gay community’s favorite arguments: fear of retaliation. Personally, I believe that their objection is based in fear of exposure. I suspect that the purposes and beliefs of the funders, organizers, and administrators of Proposition 8 are not aligned with the public, not even the majority of those who voted for the proposition.
December 14th, 2009
On the 4th, we reported that a three judge panel had blocked the turn-over of insider communication of the Proposition 8 supporters to Ted Olson and David Boies. Olson/Boies are suing to have Prop 8 declared in violation of the Federal Constitution and are using as part of their argument the fact that Prop 8 is primarily based in anti-gay animus.
But they will have to do so without access to documents that could prove that the campaign’s strategy consisted of inflaming anti-gay bigotry. (SFGate)
In a unanimous ruling Friday, 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 trial starts January 11th.
December 4th, 2009
Part of the Ted Olson/David Boies case against Proposition 8 is based on the argument that the campaign and its voters denied rights to gay couples out of animus. And to prove animus, they subpoenaed the internal communication of the pro-8 campaign.
Although the presiding judge agreed that such communication should be turned over to Olson/Boies, an appeal to the 9th Circuit has suspended that decision until they can hear it. (SF Chronicle)
The Ninth U.S. Circuit of Appeals in San Francisco suspended 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.
…
Prop. 8 sponsors argued that their discussions were constitutionally protected and that orders such as Walker’s would discourage candid communications in political campaigns.The three-judge appeals court panel said the sponsors “have made a strong showing that they are likely to succeed” in their arguments. The court, which held a hearing on Walker’s order on Tuesday, said it would issue a ruling soon.
This always seemed a bit of a long-shot to me anyway.
October 27th, 2009
One of the chief arguments against same-sex marriage (especially that of Catholics) is that the purpose of marriage is to ensure that procreative activities occur within stable families best able to raise the resulting children. And when challenged about the elderly or the barren, the argument is that while some specific married persons cannot procreate, their activities are procreative in nature.
So it is with interest that we observe an amusing anecdote that has emerged from the Olson/Boies challenge to Proposition 8. (NYTimes)
The government should be allowed to favor opposite-sex marriages, Mr. Cooper said, in order “to channel naturally procreative sexual activity between men and women into stable, enduring unions.”
Judge Walker appeared puzzled. “The last marriage that I performed,” the judge said, “involved a groom who was 95, and the bride was 83. I did not demand that they prove that they intended to engage in procreative activity. Now, was I missing something?”
Mr. Cooper said no.
As Judge Walker is not willing to buy into religious presumptions, Mr. Cooper may find it difficult to articulate in this case just exactly why the voters can have excluded a subset of the populace from enjoying the rights afforded to other citizens for reasons other than animus. And if he is unable to do so, that may bode well for this lawsuit.
October 14th, 2009
There was a hearing today regarding whether the lawsuit to overturn Proposition 8 brought by Ted Olson and David Boies should be thrown out in summary judgment. (SF Chron)
Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, in a ruling from the bench in San Francisco, said a trial was needed to resolve crucial issues, including whether gays and lesbians are persecuted minorities entitled to judicial protection from discriminatory laws. He has scheduled the trial for January.
And in a clue to Judge Walker’s thinking,
But Walker said the Supreme Court, in striking down laws against interracial marriage and by allowing prisoners to marry, had defined the right to wed as fundamental without limiting it to certain groups.
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.