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Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said this afternoon that if elected governor, she would defend Proposition 8, which prohibits same-sex marriage, by appealing a recent federal court ruling declaring the proposition unconstitutional. Whitman made her clearest stand to date on the issue while speaking at the warehouse of Solar Gard Window Film in San Diego, hours before she's scheduled to address the California Republican Party's convention downtown. During a brief news conference, the Bee asked Whitman whether she would defend Proposition 8 if elected governor. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has taken up the issue after Chief Judge...

This week, two things happened in the gay marriage wars: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay overruling U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's decision to permit gay marriages to take place immediately, before higher courts have a chance to review his unprecedented ruling. And a new poll released by Public Policy Polling shows that Americans continue to oppose gay marriage by an almost 2-to-1 margin. Normally, when a lower court judge finds a new constitutional right never before acknowledged by any federal court except his, he is modest and reasonable enough to stay his decision, recognizing that...

Even some who support same-sex marriage worry that, in striking down California's voter-approved proposition defining marriage as between one man and one woman, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker went too far. They are right -- and not the only ones who should be concerned. Walker's ruling is indefensible as a matter of law wholly apart from its result. By refusing to acknowledge binding Supreme Court precedent, substantial evidence produced at trial that was contrary to the holding and plain common sense, the ruling exhibits none of the requirements of a traditional decision. This opinion is arbitrary and capricious, and its...

When 52 percent of California voters passed Proposition 8 in November 2008, Attorney General Jerry Brown said he would defend the measure during the inevitable appeals. Then, as is his fashion, Brown changed his mind. Ditto Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who twice vetoed same-sex marriage bills passed by the Legislature in deference to California voters who passed an earlier same-sex marriage statute in 2000. But after Prop. 8 passed, both refused to defend the measure. This month, after U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional, both Brown and Schwarzenegger urged Walker to lift a stay on his...

SAN FRANCISCO, August 16, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals intervened in the battle over Proposition 8 Monday afternoon, and gave an order preventing California officials from issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples until they can hear the case. The stay from the three judge panel of the appeals court blocked Chief U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's decision overturning Proposition 8, the voter-approved state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.  Walker, one of three known openly homosexual judges in the federal judiciary, ruled in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case that...

A federal appeals court has extended a stay on same-sex marriages in California until it decides whether a ban on such unions is constitutional. It is just the latest turn in a protracted legal battle over Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban. The ruling, issued by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, came less than a week after a federal district judge, Vaughn R. Walker, lifted a stay he had imposed to allow proponents of the ban to argue why same-sex marriages should not proceed. On Aug. 4, Judge Walker ruled that Proposition...

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court put same-sex weddings in California on hold indefinitely Monday while it considers the constitutionality of the state's gay marriage ban. The decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, trumps a lower court judge's order that would have allowed county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday. Lawyers for the two gay couples that challenged the ban said Monday they would not appeal the panel's decision on the stay to the Supreme Court.

The Ninth Circuit has stayed Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling in the high-profile Constitutional challenge to California's same-sex marriage ban. The case is scheduled to be heard in early December. So hold the wedding bells. There is some good news, though, for the same-sex plaintiffs: The court warned in its order that it's considering dismissing the appeal on the grounds that the appelants -- who don't include the Governor or Attorney General -- lack standing. "In addition to any issues appellants wish to raise on appeal, appellants are directed to include in their opening brief a discussion of why this appeal...

The Most Egregious Performance Ever by a Federal District Judge August 13, 2010 2:29 PM By Ed Whelan Consider the totality of Judge Walker’s conduct in the anti-Prop 8 case: Let’s start with Walker’s initial case-management conference when he determined, to the surprise even of plaintiffs’ lawyer Ted Olson, that the case couldn’t be resolved, one way or the other (as other courts have done in similar cases), as a matter of law but would instead require extensive discovery into supposed factual issues. Let’s continue with Walker’s insane and unworkable inquiry into the subjective motivations of the more than seven...

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker should have recused himself, but he had a legal and political statement he wanted to make. The people of California spoke clearly at the polls in 2008 when they passed an amendment to the state Constitution that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The public debate was held, the media wars were fought, both sides spent millions of dollars and the people voted for Proposition 8 by a margin of 52% to 48%. The people's will carried the day, as it is supposed to — until U.S. District...

The sponsors of California's gay marriage ban have asked an appeals court to stop a federal judge's order allowing same-sex weddings to begin next week. The lawyers defending Proposition 8 asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday to impose a stay that would halt gay marriages while the court considers the judge's ruling that struck down the ban.

California District Judge Vaughn Walker WASHINGTON — Advocates for traditional marriage received a setback last week when a California district court judge ruled Proposition 8 — a 2008 ballot initiative that amended the California Constitution to prohibit the recognition of same-sex “marriages” — unconstitutional. But legal experts and political activists that back Proposition 8 contend Judge Vaughn Walker’s opinion in Perry v. Schwarzenegger is based on flawed legal and factual findings that increase the probability it will be overturned on appeal. The Ruling Judge Walker ruled that Proposition 8 violated the “due process” and “equal protection” clauses of the 14th...

Judge Vaughn Walker has lifted the stay on his Proposition 8 ruling, which deemed a ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional. Walker's ruling last week was ground breaking, but it still kept the ban on gay marriage intact, until Prop 8 was ruled on by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Walker has now removed the stay, and will allow for gays and lesbians to marry in the state of California. Walker said that he would lift the stay on August 18th. The LA Times reports that the temporary hold on gay marriage is to allow supporters of Prop 8...

SACRAMENTO - Judge Vaughn Walker has lifted a stay in order regarding last week's verdict that stated Proposition 8, California's law that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, is unconstitutional.

Click here to find out more! Thomas Jefferson, a deist, and Alexander Hamilton, an Episcopalian, anchored opposite ends of the political spectrum in the early years of the republic but agreed on one basic proposition: The nation's laws must follow God's laws. U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled last week from a courtroom in San Francisco that "same-sex marriage" is a constitutional right, views Americans who agree with Jefferson and Hamilton as religiously motivated bigots. "Good and wise men, in all ages ... have supposed that the Deity, from the relations we stand in to Himself and to...

At first blush, the notion that there is no rational basis for California's ban on same-sex marriage, as U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker ruled last week, seems extreme. But the more you consider the arguments presented by the ban's supporters the less far-fetched Walker's conclusion looks. Walker ruled that Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that excluded gay couples from the legal definition of marriage, violated the 14th Amendment's command that no state may "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." He deemed the case presented by the measure's supporters so weak that...

The decision by federal judge Vaughan Walker to invalidate California’s Proposition 8 both recycles and revives some of the tired, misleading clichés regarding the same sex marriage controversy. These distortions demand direct, concise correction and rebuttal. 1. “Proposition 8 was a mean-spirited ban on gay marriage.” TRUTH: Proposition 8 banned nothing. The ubiquitous headlines describing this voter-mandated change in the California constitution as a “gay marriage ban” amount to the worst example of journalistic malpractice in recent years. The entire proposition consisted of only fourteen words: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”...

SACRAMENTO, California, August 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is urging Judge Vaughn Walker to discontinue the stay that the judge placed on the enforcement of his own ruling against Proposition 8, and to thereby let homosexuals marry.Judge Walker issued his explosive decision against traditional marriage last week; however, he decided to enjoin enforcement of his order and not to allow gay “marriages” to commence immediately in the state, pending the inevitable appeal of his ruling by defenders of true marriage. "The Administration believes the public interest is best served by permitting the Court’s judgment to go into effect,...

Monday August 9, 2010 Prop. 8 Judge: Pope Hurt Homosexuals By James TillmanSAN FRANCISCO, California, August 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- In the 136-page ruling overturning California's ban on "gay marriage," Judge Vaughn Walker cites a document signed by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, to show that "religious beliefs that gay and lesbian relationships are sinful" can "harm gays and lesbians."William May, chairman of Catholics for the Common Good (CCG), told LifeSiteNews (LSN) that it was shocking for a federal court to rule that "Catholic teaching and [that] that of other religions are harmful to anyone."  He also said...

When a federal judge in California last week ruled the state’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, several political observers braced for a flood of Republican blasts on the issue that could end up resonating in campaigns nationally. Instead, the anticipated GOP bang over the ban — known as Proposition 8 — amounted to little more than a whimper. There were angry columns and cries of protest from right-wing groups and conservative writers, but the majority of the Republican establishment kept on a bread-and-butter message — and party leaders are encouraging them not to stray. It also was expected that Democrats, outside of...