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California Family Council

April 20, 2011

Decisions Void of Integrity
by Ron Prentice,
Chief Executive Officer

We at California Family Council jokingly refer to Proposition 8 as the “gift that keeps on giving.” Passing by a vote of the people on November 4, 2008, Prop 8 was legally contested the following day in the California Courts. Then, three days prior to the California Supreme Court’s 6-1 ruling to uphold the will of the people, a suit was filed against Prop 8 in the federal courts. 
Last summer, Vaughn Walker, now retired from his role as the Chief Judge of the northern federal district court in San Francisco, ruled Proposition 8 unconstitutional, basing his entire decision on emotional testimony and completely disregarding the clear and exhaustive evidence of case law protecting both traditional marriage and the initiative process. From beginning to end, the trial in Walker’s courtroom was a circus.
Before, during, and after the federal district trial, widespread rumors swirled about Walker’s sexual orientation, but it was not until the first week of this month that Walker confirmed to a group of journalists that the rumors are true: he is homosexual and has been in a “committed” same-sex relationship for the past ten years.
John Eastman, former dean of the School of Law at Chapman University, wrote a scathing opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle questioning Walker’s commitment to ethical behavior. Eastman writes, “Not his sexual orientation, which alone would not require recusal [i.e., disqualification], but the possibility that he could directly benefit from his ruling, raised the prospect that recusal may have been warranted. If the relationship was such that it gave Walker a financial or other interest in the outcome of the proceeding -- and the ability to marry would certainly qualify -- recusal would be mandatory and non-waivable.”
In another revelation concerning Walker, the C-Span cable television network broadcast a seminar that featured the retired judge addressing an audience at the University of Texas. In it, Walker uses videotape from the Prop 8 trial to demonstrate a point. Walker readily admits having used it in other public settings.
A not-so-minor problem is that the United States Supreme Court ordered that the trial’s video record could not be made public. In addition, Walker himself pledged to use the video record solely for his review of the trial in preparation for his decision, and pledged to keep the video “under seal.”   
However, when Walker retired he took a copy of the trial’s videotape with him, and he has decided that his own pledge, and a Supreme Court order, shall have no bearing on his behavior. The Prop 8 Legal Defense team has filed a motion in the Ninth Circuit, seeking the Court’s order to retrieve all outstanding copies of the trial’s videotape and to truly place them under seal.
Meanwhile, Walker carelessly whistles his way into the darkness, and his ruling is being appealed to the Ninth Circuit.
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