The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that cameras will not be allowed in the courtroom for the high-profile federal case challenging California's same-sex marriage ban.The court was split 5-4 on Wednesday, with conservative justices in the majority, according to the Associated Press.
"We resolve that question without expressing any view on whether such trials should be broadcast," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, and justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Anthony Kennedy. "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."
Former Clinton adviser and attorney Richard Socarides expressed his disappointment to Advocate.com shortly after the decision.
"The ruling means the public will be denied a wide angle-first hand experience of what's happening inside probably the most important trial of our lifetime,"he said. "Disappointing, but nothing that will impact the ultimate result, one we sincerely hope brings justice."
Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at University of California, Irvine, also expressed concern.
"It's discouraging that the court split so clearly along ideological lines," he said. "Hope is that this doesn’t forecast where the court is likely to go in the long term."
The federal Prop. 8 challenge is currently in front of the U.S. district court in San Francisco. Judge Vaughn Walker, who is presiding over the case, proposed last week that recordings of the trial be posted online, while live streams be broadcast to other federal courthouses.
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