Prop 8 Backers Lose Key Fight

In a victory for gay rights, a California federal judge today rejected an attempt by Prop 8's backers to vacate Judge Vaughn Walker's previous ruling that overturned Prop 8, the Metro Weekly's Chris Geidner reports this afternoon.

Prop 8's supporters had argued that because Walker was himself gay and lived with a man, he could not rule impartially on the constitutionality of the anti-gay-marriage ballot initiative.

U.S. District Court Judge James Ware did not agree, writing that "the sole fact that a federal judge shares the same circumstances or personal characteristics with other members of the general public, and that the judge could be affected by the outcome of a proceeding in the same way that other members of the general public would be affected, is not a basis for either recusal or disqualification."

sthrasher@villagevoice.com / @steven_thrasher