We need your help to protect the gift of marriage this Christmas season.
The November elections have brought us to a moment of unprecedented opportunities, with the chance to pass new marriage amendments, strengthen legislative protections, and even roll back same-sex marriage in states like New Hampshire and Iowa.
Judge Stephen Reinhardt has just refused to step down from a three-judge panel that will consider the arguments for and against Prop 8 on Monday -- in spite of the fact that his wife has provided legal counsel to one of the parties in the case! And in an unparalleled act of judicial arrogance -- he has refused in his initial order even to explain why!
That was fast! The Wall Street Journal has already taken note of NOM and others' call for Judge Reinhardt to step down, because his wife's involvement in this case means Reinhardt's continued involvement would violate the Judicial Code of Conduct.
Washington, DC – The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is calling on Justice Stephen Reinhardt, one of the judges in the Prop 8 trial scheduled for hearing next week in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, to recuse himself because his wife, Ramona Ripston, has been intimately involved in the case including advising the plaintiff’s counsel before the case was even filed. NOM is asking their 800,000 supporters to file official complaints with the Ninth Circuit court. The oral arguments for the Prop 8 case before the Ninth Circuit will take place on Monday, December 6.
This Monday, December 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear oral arguments in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the legal challenge toCalifornia's Proposition 8. The panel of judges includes Judge Stephen Reinhardt, Judge Michael Hawkins, and Judge Randy Smith.
NOM's live coverage of the two-hour arguments will begin shortly before 10a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. Check back Monday for all of NOM's live coverage from the courtroom and video reaction from Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of NOM's Ruth Institute.
"Gallagher saw the SPLC’s action as a vindication of her past statements.
That was fast! The Wall Street Journal has already taken note of NOM and others' call for Judge Reinhardt to step down, because his wife's involvement in this case means Reinhardt's continued involvement would violate the Judicial Code of Conduct:
I hear this question all the time when I travel. I heard it this fall in Michigan and New Jersey and North Carolina. The Prop 8 case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, will be in court again on December 6th. I will be live-blogging from the courtroom.
Bill Duncan points out that Judge Reinhardt is as radical a leftwing judge as you can find on the federal bench--one of the reasons the 9th Circuit gets overruled so often by the SC:
Ed Whelan says that Judge Reinhardt must recuse himself from the case--not for showing overwhelming liberal bias, but because his wife consulted with the plaintiffs on whether or not they should bring the case.
The 9th Circuit just reallocated 5 minutes of time away from San Francisco to the main challengers in Perry, giving the Perry plaintiffs 20 minutes, and the City of San Francisco 10 minutes.
We've just received word that the three judges on the 9th Circuit who will be considering Perry v. Schwarzenegger are: Judge Stephen Reinhardt, Judge Michael Hawkins and Judge Randy Smith.
On Fox News this morning, NOM President Brian Brown and Sean Eldridge of Freedom to Marry discussed judicial activism and last week’s decision by Iowa voters to rein in their state supreme court, reacting to the court’s ruling on same-sex marriage with an unprecedented ouster of all three justices up for retention.
