Perry v. Schwarzenegger, “The Proposition 8 Trial”: Day Three

The Court declined to allow the broadcast of the trial, reaffirming its stay issued Monday.   Today's Order begins:

We are asked to stay the broadcast of a federal trial.  We resolve that question without expressing any view on whether such trials should be broadcast.  We instead determine that the broadcast in this case should be stayed because it appears the courts below did not follow the appropriate procedures set forth in federal law before changing their rules to allow such broadcasting. Courts enforce the requirement of procedural regularity on others, and must follow those requirements themselves.

Justice Breyer, issued a dissenting opinion, joined by Stevens, Ginsburg, and Sotomayor.

Thus, reports of the trial will be by newsmedia and tweets.   As a refresher, our primer on the issues of the case is here.

The day began with the continued cross-examination of George Chauncey, apparently seeking to elicit information that there is stronger support for gays and lesbians now than in the past and that Nancy Pelosi is a “powerful ally.”  This would pertain to the argument regarding gays and lesbians as politically powerless or not for the Carolene analysis of heightened scrutiny, and could also apply to the animus argument for heightened scrutiny.  The redirect focused on the ways in which bias against lesbians and gay men continues.

The next expert witness was Anne Peplau, Professor of Psychology at UCLA.  Peplau is a social psychologist who studies gender and sexual orientation, with a long list of publications.  Her initial testimony stressed the similarity between same-sex and opposite sex couples.

Update: A narrative from National Center for Lesbian Rights' Legal Director Shannon Minter is here; a live blogging summary from Julia Rosen is here.

RR