SAN FRANCISCO — The legal fight over California’s same-sex-marriage ban went before a federal appeals court Monday in a hearing that reached a nationwide TV audience anxious for a final decision on whether the measure violates the U.S. Constitution.
The hearing before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also focused on whether supporters of voter-approved Proposition 8 have legal standing to challenge a lower court ruling that the ban was unconstitutional.
The judges did not issue an immediate ruling.
C-SPAN piped the nearly three-hour hearing into law schools, courthouses, community centers and elsewhere across the country, giving the public outside the courtroom its first — and possibly last — direct look at the debate raging in the federal case.
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a lower court from broadcasting the full trial earlier this year, and the high court has a blanket ban on televising its own proceedings. That means the issue would be blacked out if it reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, as many legal experts and lawyers on both sides believe it will.
Matt Walker, 60, of Los Angeles watched the hearing with about 20 other people at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center in West Hollywood, saying the lives of many of his friends will be affected by the final decision. He found the hearing to be fascinating.
“Nobody from either side was getting a pass,” he said. “The judges asked very probing questions.”
The issue of legal standing surfaced after outgoing California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown both refused to challenge the ruling that overturned the ban.
The panel appeared dubious about whether the ban’s supporters were qualified to appeal but also seemed worried about allowing the governor and attorney general to effectively kill Proposition 8 by refusing to defend it.
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