Prop 8 Judge Walker acknowledges to reporters he’s gay

[William769]

U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, who last August declared California’s gay marriage ban to be unconstitutional, acknowledged to a small group of reporters Wednesday, April 6, that he is gay.

The acknowledgment was first reported by Reuters News Service on Wednesday afternoon, though the article carried very few details.



The report said only that Walker gave a talk to a “handful of reporters” but didn’t say where or why or who the reporters were. It did not indicate whether anyone asked Walker whether he was gay or whether the former judge initiated the discussion. It said Walker acknowledged having been in a relationship with a male physician for 10 years. And it reported that Walker said he did not believe it would be appropriate for any judge to recuse himself from a case because of his sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin or gender.

Walker was Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for Northern California, in San Francisco, until February of this year, when he retired.

http://www.365gay.com/news/prop-8-judge-walker-acknowledges-to-reporters-he%e2%80%99s-gay/

Why should he have recused himself?

[buddysmellgood]

1. ACTIVIST judges pushing the gay agenda! Faux news will go nuts with this.

[joeybee12]

2. Because...obviously...only white, heterosexual males can be unbiased!

:sarcasm:

[closeupready]

3. They will use that admission to call into question his ruling,

suggesting that he is 'biased'. Just watch. :eyes:

But otherwise, this was well-known, even when GHWB appointed him.

[dickthegrouch]

6. "Admission" is a poisonous word

Please use anything other than admit or its derivatives. One admits murder.
One reveals, acknowledges, discloses, discusses their sexuality.

Don't let the haters win.

[closeupready]

7. You're right. I should use our side's vocabulary.

Cheers.

[Creideiki]

8. *hug*

[TheWraith]

9. They'd be very hard pressed to actually make a case for that.

To build a case that someone is implicitly biased by being gay would essentially require that they prove in court that being gay is voluntary, the way that other factors in recusal are: personal associations, business relationships, etcetera.

The closest that they could come would be on the idea that Walker personally benefited from his ruling; however, that would be tenuous at best on constitutional grounds, as you could argue that any judge who rules against laws restricting personal liberties thereby benefits.

I'd put long odds against this actually undermining his ruling in any tangible way.

[dickthegrouch]

10. There's also precious few who would not have to recuse themselves

Married - Biased
Single - Biased
Heterosexual - biased
Gay - biased
Divorced - biased
Religious - biased
Liberal - biased
Republican - biased

any more?

[alp227]

4. oh acknowledged HIMSELF for the first time? interesting

i remember hearing from others that he was gay after the prop 8 decision. the san francisco chronicle also interviewed the former judge too.

[Doctor_J]

5. Right after Slappy Thomas recuses himself from porn or sex harrassment cases

Walker should have probably announced beforehand. Declaring this now probably sets the Prop 8 crew up for an appeal.