Thursday, January 7, 2010

YouTube in the courts!

Interesting that Proposition 8, the law in the California State Constitution that said that marriage is only between a man and a women, will now be constituionally challenged in the courts.

This is nothing new, as laws get challenged all the time. However, this time it is different, as the constitutional challenge will now be posted live on youtube. The case, Perry v. Schwarzenegger, has generated such interested that a website has been set up to accommodate the interest at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cand/09cv2292/

In Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada has always put its appeals on television, and the Ontario Court of Appeal flirted with cameras for a brief time, but no trial has ever been shown live in Canada. I think there may have been some interest in doing this before the Bernardo trial, but that idea was quickly nixed because of the fear it would have on the fairness of the trial.