Thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued in January, no one was allowed to film and broadcast the lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative in California — either live or in replay.Biut you can still see the proceedings, in a fashion.
Filmmakers John Ireland and John Ainsworth — both of whom oppose the gay marriage ban — have filmed a “recreation” of the entire trial, doing it in “episodes” with each episode covering a day of the trial. The first 12 episodes were uploaded to YouTube on Monday. Ireland said they wanted to allow Americans to judge the constitutionality of the ban for themselves.
The Supreme Court’s reasoning for not allowing the trial proceedings to be broadcast was that it could lead to supporters of Prop 8 being harassed. Prop 8 opponents said that broadcasting the trial would let people see for themselves how unfair and unjust the ban is.
Here is Episode 1 (Day 1) of the re-enactment. The first 12-15 minutes are EXCEEDINGLY dry and, well, boring. But try to get past that and watch the trial. The opening statements begin at about 15 minutes.
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“The Supreme Court’s reasoning for not allowing the trial proceedings to be broadcast was that it could lead to supporters of Prop 8 being harassed.” So it’s alright to harass the people who OPPOSE Prop 8 publicly by throwing it in our faces? WOW! Leave it to the U.S. legal system to come up with the reason!