STF NA MÍDIA

Mr. Bopp is right that the
Supreme Court has long
been comfortable with disclosure
requirements. But
Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a law
professor at Stetson University
in Florida, said that lower
courts had in the years
before Citizens United grown
skeptical of compulsory
transparency, sometimes
saying that it chilled First
amendment rights by imposing
burdensome reporting
requirements. “Before Citizens
United, there was a very
alarming trend in this area,”
she said.
In a recent article in the Georgia
State University Law
Review, Professor Torres-
Spelliscy described “the
dramatic 180-degree turn that
the law has taken” in the wake
of Citizens United on the
issue of disclosure.
These days, Professor Hasen
said, “lower courts have been
taking their cue from Citizens
United that disclosure
laws, even if they are intrusive,
are Constitutional.”
JUSTIÇA NO EXTERIOR •
THE NEW YORK TIMES (US) • NATIONAL • 19/9/2011
Proposition 8 Hearing Video Is Ordered Released by Judge
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
A federal judge has ordered
the release of the video recordings
of hearings on Proposition
8, California’s ban
on same-sex marriage.
Proponents of the initiative
had fought the release of the
recordings, but Judge James
Ware of Federal District
Court said in a 14-page opinion
that public access to
trials and court records was
“foremost among the aspects
of the federal judicial system
that foster public confidence
in the fairness and integrity
of the process.”
The video record was controversial
even before the
trial, in which plaintiffs asked
that Proposition 8 be
struck down as unconstitutional.
Judge Vaughn R. Walker,
who heard the case, initially
approved a plaintiffs’
motion to have the proceedings
recorded and even broadcast.
The Supreme Court
reversed Judge Walker in
January 2010, but Judge
Walker then allowed the video
to be produced for the
court record.
Since Judge Walker struck
down the law in August 2010
— the decision is being appealed
— the fight has broadened
to include the question
of releasing the video. Proponents
of Proposition 8 protested
Judge Walker’s use of
excerpts from the recordings
in classes after he retired, and
a coalition of media companies,
including The New
York Times, pressed for the
release of the recordings.
Judge Ware, who took over
the case after Judge Walker’s
retirement, has held off enforcement
of Monday’s order
until Sept. 30 to allow appeals.
Andrew Pugno, general
counsel for the National Organization
for Marriage, said
the appeal would come immediately.
“Today’s decision
is bizarre for many reasons,”
Mr. Pugno said, “but mostly
because it defies a direct order
of the U.S. Supreme
Court.”
Chad Griffin, board president
of the American Foundation
for Equal Rights, a group that
led the legal fight against
Proposition 8, said Americans
would be able “to see
the case they put on and the
case we put on, and they can
decide whether the case was
properly decided.”
Mr. Griffin said he got the
news about the ruling in New
York during a rehearsal of
Monday’s one-night reading
of a new play, “8,” based on
the trial.
S T F N A M Í D I A • 2 2 d e s e t e m b r o d e 2 0 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P Á G I N A 2 0 9