GOP lawyers veto court cameras in same-sex case [View All]

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Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Lawyers for House Republicans have vetoed a federal judge's proposal to allow cameras in the courtroom during arguments in San Francisco next month over insurance coverage for same-sex couples.

The Oct. 21 hearing would have been the first in the Bay Area to be recorded and posted online for public viewing under a pilot project announced by U.S. court administrators in June for 14 federal districts, including the San Francisco-based Northern District of California.

But the proposal by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, an appointee of President George W. Bush, needed approval from all parties in the case. The plaintiff, a court employee seeking benefits for her wife, and the Justice Department both consented, but lawyers for the Republican-controlled House of Representatives told White on Friday that their client "prefers not to participate." They did not elaborate.

The House entered the case after President Obama withdrew Justice Department legal support from the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that denies federal benefits to same-sex spouses. The San Francisco suit, one of several challenging that law, was filed by Karen Golinski, who is seeking family insurance coverage for the woman she married in 2008.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/13/BAOT1L3JR3.DTL