Appeal Planned After Prop 8 Judge Cleared by Court
The sponsors of California's same-sex marriage ban are planning to appeal a federal judge's decision that his predecessor had no obligation to divulge that he was in a long-term relationship with another man when he struck down the ban.
Lawyer Charles Cooper, who represents the conservative religious coalition that put the ban on a 2008 ballot, said he disagrees with the ruling Tuesday in San Francisco by U.S. Chief District Judge James Ware.
Ware upheld former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling from last year that struck down Prop. 8. Ware found Walker could not be presumed to have a personal stake in the case just because he has a same-sex partner.
Cooper says the appeal is intended to defend the will of Californians to preserve marriage as the union of a man and woman.