Judge Vaughn Walker: 138,542 in favor, 32 opposed- Courage launched Trial Tracker Blog

 
PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2010

Contacts:

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – After gathering and delivering 140,671 signatures (138,248 on paper; see note below) in just three days calling for the federal lawsuit challenging Proposition 8 to be televised, the Courage Campaign Institute today launched a new website, Prop8TrialTracker.com, to promote transparency in this historic trial and hold right-wing organizations like the National Organization for Marriage accountable during the duration of the trial.

As the trial began this morning, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker noted the final number of public comments for and against televising the trial: 138,542 in favor, 32 opposed. It appears that 138,242 of those comments in favor were submitted by the Courage Campaign Institute and CREDO Action.

Americans interested in tracking the federal trial challenging Prop. 8 can follow live updates of the case right now at Prop8TrialTracker.com.

Rick Jacobs, Chair of the 700,000-member organization, is live-blogging the trial right now on the just-launched web site Prop8TrialTracker.com, and released the following statement:

“We launched Prop8TrialTracker.com because this is the most important civil rights trial in a generation and will affect millions of Americans. We have the opportunity to either keep the doors closed on this case or open up this trial to the public so Americans can witness history. “

“In a 72-hour signature drive, the Courage Campaign gathered 140,671 signatures from Americans interested in protecting civil liberties and increasing transparency in this civil rights trial. We’ve launched Prop8TrialTracker.com to make sure millions of Americans have the opportunity to witness this historic case.”

In addition to Jacobs, the primary contributors to Prop8TrialTracker.com will be Courage Campaign staffers and long-time bloggers Robert Cruickshank, Public Policy Director, and Julia Rosen, Online Political Director.

BACKGROUND: Following the court’s announcement last Monday that it was seeking public comment on the proposal to televise the trial the Courage Campaign Institute teamed up with CREDO Action to organize support to publicly televise the proceedings in the federal case to overturn California’s Proposition 8.

NOTE: The “Televise the Trial” letter was signed by 140,671 people calling for a publicly accessible trial. 138,248 signatures were hand-delivered on paper to the court on Friday morning with the remainder being emailed before last Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline.

A copy of the letter to Judge Walker can be viewed at:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/TeleviseTheTrial