Citing First Amendment concerns, a federal appeals court ruled that backers of Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage do not have to give up campaign strategy documents. Prop. 8 opponents had tried to gain access to internal memos and e-mails to show that the campaign exploited prejudice against gays and lesbians. –DB
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court in San Francisco has reversed a judge’s order that backers of Proposition 8, the state initiative that banned same-sex marriage, give their campaign strategy documents to opponents trying to overturn the measure.
In a unanimous ruling Friday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit of Appeals tossed out the order that Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker issued in October against backers of Prop. 8, which state voters approved in November 2008.
Walker had said lawyers for two same-sex couples and a gay-rights group were entitled to see internal memos and e-mails between Yes on 8 strategists to look for evidence that the campaign had exploited prejudice against gays and lesbians.
The plaintiffs are trying to show that the measure was discriminatory and thus unconstitutional.
Prop. 8 sponsors argued that their discussions were constitutionally protected and that Walker’s order would discourage candid communications in political campaigns. The three-judge appeals court panel unanimously agreed.
“The freedom to associate with others for the common advancement of political beliefs and ideas lies at the heart of the First Amendment,” Judge Raymond Fisher wrote for the court. Prop. 8 proponents, he said, had shown that turning over the documents “would likely have a chilling effect on political association and the formulation of political expression.”
The court had suspended Walker’s order last week and signaled that it intended to reverse it.
The trial over the lawsuit is still scheduled to begin Jan. 11 in San Francisco.
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