LIBERATE US

(San Francisco) The legal sparring over California's same-sex marriage ban is set to return to a San Francisco courtroom. A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments Monday on whether he should unseal video recordings of last year's landmark trial on the constitutionality of the voter-approved measure, known as Proposition 8. Lawyers representing two same-sex couples, the city of San Francisco and a coalition of media groups want the recordings made public. Attorneys for the ban's backers are trying to keep them under wraps. They argue disseminating the footage would violate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that banned cameras from covering the high-profile case so it could be broadcast to other courthouses or posted on YouTube. The presiding judge who ultimately declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional had his staff record the proceedings. But he said at the time that the recordings were for his personal use only.