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Federal Judge Orders Prop 8 Backers to Provide Documents
On Saturday, a federal judge ordered backers of Proposition 8 to release campaign strategy documents. The material includes notes and e-mails between campaign officials and consultants, that discussed their strategy and the message they wanted to send to the voters.The plaintiffs claim that the documents could confirm that Proposition 8 was motivated by prejudice. They assert that the measure's real purpose was to strip a historically persecuted minority group of rights held by the majority. If the court agrees that the ballot measure was motivated by discrimination, they could strike it down without having to decide whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry.
Prop 8's sponsors claimed in a court filing that their opponents' claim of anti-gay motivation is legally irrelevant. However, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that "the intent or purpose of Prop. 8 is central to this litigation" communications.
The judge also cited a magazine article last year by the heads of Schubert Flint Public Affairs which managed the Prop. 8 campaign. In the article they discussed their strategy, including plans to show how advocates of same-sex marriage would indoctrinate schoolchildren. Walker said the article undermined the campaign's insistence that its strategy discussions were confidential.
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