On Wednesday, Adam B informed us in his diary Prop 8 On Trial: Sooner Than You Think that
Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California doesn't believe this [the constitutionality of Prop 8] merits resolving on papers alone; he wants an evidentiary trial.
Adam B also showed us the Court's Order (pdf) and we reveled at the extent to which Judge Walker plans for evidence to be assembled.
Yesterday, there was a hearing during which Judge Walker moved to fast-track the lawsuit.
From Josh Richman at the Oakland Tribune:
Walker, toward the end of a 50-minute hearing in a packed courtroom, ordered the parties to file by Aug. 7 joint or separate case-management proposals laying out the facts that they agree are already settled, the facts that still need to be tried and a road map on how best to proceed.
That's only a month for the parties to get a handle on how they plan to try the case, given the Judge's exhaustive requirements for evidence.
Clearly, Judge Walker acknowledged that he understands this is eventually a Supreme Court case:
This case is only touching down in this court ... and this is only a prelude to what's going to happen later," the judge said, adding he and the attorneys must strive to make as complete a factual record as possible for the higher courts to review.
The Associated Press reports that Judge Walker expressed a desire to accelerate the case because "it involves serious civil rights issues."
Olson said afterward that he was pleased by the judge's desire to explore in depth the issues raised by the case. He said he expected the two sides in the case to agree easily on some issues, such as Proposition 8's ballot history, and less easily on others, such as whether eliminating the right to wed for gay people constitutes discrimination.
"When it does get to the U.S. Supreme Court, we expect to win," he said.
The next hearing is scheduled for August 19th.