U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker today denied requests to place a permanent hold his decision on allowing same-sex marriage in California pending completion of all appeals. However, he did extend the temporary hold to give the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals time to consider a similar request for a hold.
Walker gave marriage supporters one week – until 5:00 p.m. PT on Aug. 18 – to hear back from the appeals court, after which same-sex marriages could resume.
Constitutional scholar Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, called today’s ruling “unbelievable” and an obvious attempt to undermine a meaningful appellate review.
“Walker’s action screams for reversal by the 9th Circuit. If that (alas, notoriously unreliable) court refuses to impose a stay pending appeal, then it will be up to the Supreme Court to, once again, put an end to Walker’s lawlessness—this time, I would think, unanimously,” Whelan wrote. “Yes, I think that even those justices who may be inclined to invent a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage will be appalled by Walker’s disregard of precedents, his absurdly biased ‘fact-finding,’ and his effort to thwart meaningful appeal.”
Sarah Tappen, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said the decision was another slap in the face to California voters, who affirmed a common-sense historic position.
“If a handful of activists, such as (Walker), are allowed to void constitutional amendments which protect marriage,” Tappen said, “then I guess we’ve gutted the core of the American democratic system.”
LEGAL BIAS GROWING?
One week after Walker’s ruling, the liberal-leaning American Bar Association (ABA) overwhelmingly approved at its annual convention a resolution favoring same-sex marriage. The resolution calls for the elimination of state, territorial and trial laws restricting same-sex marriage.
Incoming ABA President Stephen Zack, attorney with Boies, Schiller & Flexner, announced Monday that his boss, David Boies, and Ted Olson – lead attorneys fighting to overturn the California marriage amendment – will co-chair a new task force on the preservation of the justice system.
“Judicial activism is definitely growing at a rapid speed,” said Bruce Hausknecht, CitizenLink’s judicial analyst. “Regardless of your stance on marriage, every American should be troubled at the recent attempts to redefine the Constitution, undermine marriage and create laws out of thin air.
“We must scrutinize every judicial candidate – regardless of their credentials, what school they attended or by whom they were recommended.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read Judge Walker’s Aug. 12 ruling.
Read more about Judge Walker’s Perry et al v. Schwarzenegger et al.
Learn more about the Prop 8 case and how to support ProtectMarriage.com.
Read Whelan’s, “Judge Walker’s Phony ‘Finding’ Versus Defendant’s Modesty About Predicting the Future.”
Read Whelan’s, “Judge Walker and Supposed Lack of ‘Evidence’ of Marriage’s Procreative Purpose.”
Read the ABA’s appointment of Olson and Boies to Task Force.
Read the ABA’s white paper on same-sex marriage.
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