SAN FRANCISCO - Rumors swirled that the federal judge who had struck down California's same-sex "marriage" ban last summer was homosexual, but the lawyers charged with defending the measure remained silent on the subject. Their preferred strategy for getting the ruling overturned on appeal was to focus on the law, not a judge's personal life, they said.

Eight months later, Proposition 8's proponents and their attorneys have taken a new position. They filed a motion Monday seeking to vacate Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's historic ruling, a move they said was prompted by the now-retired jurist's recent disclosure that he is in a long-term relationship with another man.

Lawyers for the ban's backers argue that the judge's relationship status, not his sexual orientation, gave him too much in common with the couples who successfully sued to overturn the ban in his court.

A California group isn't surprised a three-judge panel of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco decided to stay the ruling by Judge Vaughn Walker, striking down Proposition 8.

The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit legal organization specializing in cases involving religious liberties, firmly supports Proposition 8. Attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Institute, does not think the lower court judge is capable of ruling impartially.

"He is openly engaging in homosexuality. That is his lifestyle; that is who he is; that's his identity," Dacus notes. "So he had his own identity, his own lifestyle on trial before him, and I think it would be very difficult for someone like him to rule differently. To rule differently, in a way, would be to rule against himself"...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The federal judge who overturned California's same-sex marriage ban has more bad news for the measure's backers: He doubts they have the right to challenge his ruling that gay couples can begin marrying next week.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker on Thursday rejected a request to delay his decision barring Proposition 8 from taking effect until high courts can take up an appeal lodged by its supporters. One of the reasons, the judge said, is he's not sure the proponents have the authority to appeal since they would not be affected by or responsible for implementing his ruling.

By contrast, same-sex couples are being denied their constitutional rights every day they are prohibited from marrying, Walker said...

Judicial activism has again trumped voters' rights. That's the assessment of attorneys reacting to Thursday's turn of events in the seemingly never-ending legal battle over California's Proposition 8.

A California judge who last week overturned Prop. 8 yesterday rejected a request to delay his decision striking down Prop. 8 from taking effect until high courts can take up an appeal lodged by its supporters. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker gave marriage traditionalists until August 18 at 5:00 p.m. (Pacific) to obtain a ruling from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on whether homosexual "marriages" should start before the court considers their broader appeal...

SAN FRANCISCO - The federal judge who overturned California's same-sex "marriage" ban is set to rule Thursday on whether homosexual marriages should resume immediately in the state or await an appeals court's input.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker announced late Wednesday that he would issue his decision by noon on requests to impose a stay that would keep Proposition 8 in effect while its sponsors appeal his decision.

The announcement came after lawyers for homosexual couples, California Gov. Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown filed legal motions Friday asking that same-sex marriages be allowed to resume immediately...

(CNSNews.com) - U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who ruled last week that a voter-approved amendment to California’s constitution that limited marriage to the union of one man and one woman violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, based that ruling in part on his finding that a child does not need and has no right to a mother.

Nor, he found, does a child have a need or a right to a father.

“Children do not need to be raised by a male parent and a female parent to be well-adjusted, and having both a male and a female parent does not increase the likelihood that a child will be well-adjusted,” the judge wrote in finding of fact No. 71 in his opinion...

SAN FRANCISCO – California Attorney General Jerry Brown filed a motion Friday calling for resumption of same-sex weddings in the state.

Brown filed the motion after U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker previously overturned Proposition 8, California's voter-approved gay marriage ban.

Walker ruled the law violates federal equal protections and due process laws...

On Wednesday, a judge struck down California's same-sex "marriage" ban as a violation of the civil rights of homosexuals, but a pending appeal of the landmark ruling could prevent same-gender weddings from resuming in the state any time soon.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker overturned the voter-approved ban known as Proposition 8 Wednesday, declaring that limiting marriage to a man and a woman serves no legitimate purpose and is an "artifact" rooted in "unfounded stereotypes and prejudices."

While the ruling affects only California, the appeal will go to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over nine Western states. Walker said he would consider waiting for the Ninth Circuit to render its decision before he makes his opinion final and requires the state to stop enforcing the ban. The judge ordered both sides to submit written arguments by Friday on the issue...

Last weekend the San Francisco Chronicle "outed" Proposition 8 Judge Vaughn Walker as an active practitioner of the homosexual lifestyle: "The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay," revealed the Chronicle.

Judge Walker has presided over California's Prop. 8 case filed by homosexual extremists who seek to manufacture a constitutional "right" to so-called "same-sex marriage." The legal odd-couple of former Bush attorney Ted Olson and Gore lawyer David Boies have partnered to represent the activist plaintiffs.

The revelation that Judge Walker apparently chooses to engage in homosexual conduct, if true, would explain much of his bizarre behavior throughout this trial.

The San Francisco Chronicle has reported "the biggest open secret" in the legal challenge against Proposition 8 is that the judge who is hearing the trial "is himself gay."

The paper reports many gay politicians in the northern California city say Chief District U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker has never taken pains to hide his gay orientation.

Conservatives following the case say Walker has already proven a pro-gay bias. They point out the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his attempt to skirt federal rules by broadcasting the trial.

"From the outset, Walker's entire course of conduct in the anti-Prop 8 case has reflected a manifest design to turn the lawsuit into a high-profile, culture-transforming, history-making, Scopes-style show trial of Prop 8's sponsors," Ed Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, writes in the National Review Online blog, "The Corner"...