Cameras in the Courts In January 2011, the Ninth Circuit certified a question to the California Supreme Court, and stayed the appeal pending its response.232 In February 2011 the California Supreme Court agreed to address the matter, and oral arguments may take place this fall.233 It is expected that the argument will be televised under California law.234 Judge Walker stepped down as Chief Judge on December 31, 2011, and retired from the bench two months later.235 Ten days before retiring Judge Walker gave a 42-minute lecture on the history of cameras in the courtroom at the University of Arizona, which also was taped and broadcast on C-SPAN a few days later.236 During his talk he played a portion (approximately three minutes) of the “sealed” recording, showing the cross-examination of an expert witness during the trial.237 Just to make matters even more interesting, Judge Walker, in an interview with a reporter from Reuters on April 6, 2011, admitted that he was gay and had been in a “10-year relationship with a physician.”238 On April 13, 2011, supporters of Proposition 8 filed a Motion in the Ninth Circuit for an order compelling return of the trial recordings.239 The following day, Judge Walker sent a letter to the Ninth Circuit Clerk responding to that filing.240 In his letter, Walker wrote that after he had used a re-enactment of the cross-examination in question during his “first several cameras in the courtroom lectures,”241 he decided to use some of the actual trial video after receiving it from the court clerk as part of his judicial papers, thinking “it would be permissible and appropriate.”242 He also admitted using the actual cross-examination excerpt during a talk to the Federal Bar Association in Riverside, California on March 8, 2011, and in a class he was teaching at the University of California Berkeley School of Law.243 On April 15, 2011, opponents of Prop. 8 filed their opposition to the supporters’ motion, along with a motion to unseal the entire recordings, arguing, inter alia, that the record of the trial, including the recording, is public property and as such should be unsealed and
eo of the Proposition 8 argument is available at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Perryv. 232. 628 F.3d 1191 (9th Cir. Jan. 4, 2011). 233. See Perry v. Brown, No. S189476 (Cal. Feb. 16, 2011) (accepting certified question). That proceeding is still pending. 234. See Cal. Sup. Ct. Rule 1.150 (allowing cameras). 235. Max Simon, Judge Vaughn Walker Is Leaving 9th Circuit, Following Exits By Prominent Gay Marriage Justices, Qweerty.com, Sept. 29, 2010, http://www.queerty.com/judge-vaughn-walker-is-leaving-9thcircuit-following-exits-by-prominent-gay-marriage-justices-20100929/. 236. The video of this speech is available at http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Vaugh. 237. Walker’s presentation of this excerpt begins at timestamp 33:48 in the C-SPAN video, supra. 238. See Dan Levine, Gay judge never thought to drop marriage case, Reuters, April 6, 2011, http://www. reuters.com/article/2011/04/06/us-gaymarriage-judge-idUSTRE7356TA20110406. This disclosure led the Proposition 8 proponents to move to vacate his ruling that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, on the grounds that Judge Walker should have recused himself. See note 248, infra. 239. See Appellants’ Motion for Order Compelling Return of Trial Recordings, Perry v. Brown, No. 10-16696 (9th Cir. filed Apr. 13, 2011), available at http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2011/04/14/ motion10-16696.pdf. 240. See Letter from Vaughn R. Walker to Molly Dwyer, Clerk, 9th Cir. (Response to a Motion filed on April 13, 2011 by Appellants-Defendant-Intervenors), Perry v. Brown, id. (filed April 14, 2011), available at http:// www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2011/04/14/10-16696_vaughn_walker_resp_motion.pdf. 241. Id. at 1. 242. Id. 243. Id. at 1-2.
246
Volume 1, Issue 3