News this morning, from Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog, that the Supreme Court has delayed the YouTubing of the Prop 8 trial–which begins today–until at least Wednesday so that the justices have time to consider the issues raised in an appeal brought by supporters of Proposition 8. The decision also means there is no real-time broadcasts of the trial to courthouses outside of the U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco.
The order not only blocks the trial judge’s original order permitting delayed broadcast of the trial proceedings, but also ”any additional order permitting broadcast of the proceedings,” pending further action by the Justices. In his brief dissent, Justice Breyer said he was not persuaded that the supporters of Prop. 8, who sought to block any televising of the trial, would suffer harm from such broacasts.
The fact that the Court will take more time to consider the issue is an indication that the broadcasting may yet be allowed. But the mere fact that it has imposed even a temporary delay would not appear to be an encouraging sign for the prospect that the video will be seen outside the courthouse.
For those who want to follow live tweeting of the trial, they can follow #Prop8. It is also being tweeted by @AmerEqualRights @TheAdvocateMag and @ACLU_norcal.
