Proposition 8 trial : 3 news items

Election Defense Alliance (EDA) has released a new study challenging the election results for Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that ended marriage equality in California through a constitutional amendment. Renowned election fraud investigator and data analyst Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D., best known for his investigation (http://www.witnesstoacrime.com/) of Ohio’s 2004 presidential election results, has now called into question yet another high-profile election. The culminating report is hosted at WasProp8Straight.org.

And so, when Judge Walker takes out his yellow highlighter and starts marking up portions of his binder during testimony, it’s only fair to assume he thinks this may be important to his decision. That’s what happened this morning during testimony from UC Davis social psychology professor Gregory Herek. Herek was discussing a 2009 report from the American Psychological Association describing the ineffectiveness of therapies to change patients from homosexual to heterosexual. And out came the judge’s yellow highlighter. Of course if the plaintiffs are to succeed in having Prop. 8 overturned they’ll have to convince the judge of many things, including the fact that sexual orientation is an immutable or unchangeable characteristic, like race or gender.

Tea Leaf Update, 11am: Now Judge Walker is highlighting his binder during cross-examination, where the attorney defending Prop. 8 is stressing with the witness portions of studies suggesting that sexual orientation is changing and lacks a firm definition. So perhaps the yellow highlighter theory isn’t, well, black and white.

By the way, Judge Walker seems to have a cold — he keeps blowing his nose. Perhaps this explains his apparent impatience with this line of cross-examination. “When will it be convenient for you to move on to another subject?” he somewhat playfully asked defense attorney Howard Nielson, Jr. The attorney didn’t budge, saying this point of sexual orientation being a moving target is central to their case.

The re-enactment is being hosted on YouTube but, to find out more about the central cast in this real life saga, you can go to John Ireland's websitewww.MarriageTrial.com and look at the profiles of the main players involved.

The team have vowed to keep their re-enactment videos as close to real-life events as possible, cross-referencing transcripts and staying away from the temptation to spice things up. If events in the courtroom are dry, then the re-enactment will be dry, which from my point of view is exactly as it should be.