Petrelis Files

Remote Viewing Sites for
Prop 8 Trial Announced

If you're interested in the Prop 8 trial, consider signing up for the court's email announcement list, and keep up with news and informational releases from the court. Click here to get on the list.

You'll soon start to receive announcements such as this, telling people where they can watch the proceedings, and the rule governing the airing of the trial on closed circuit feeds at federal courthouses across the county. All this transparency from presiding Judge Vaughn Walker is a huge valuable service to America, and I hope all of the experimenting with sunshine for the trial leads to permanent transparency practices, such as airing proceedings on the web.

Excerpts from the court's release this afternoon, which I couldn't locate on court's site. If anyone has a URL of where it's web-posted, please share the link with me:

A live video and audio feed from the upcoming Proposition 8 trial in San Francisco will be available for public viewing in federal courthouses elsewhere in California, and in Oregon, Washington and New York, it was announced today. Video and audio of the trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday, January 11, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. (PDT), will be distributed via electronically secure means to the federal courthouses listed below.

The Proposition 8 case, officially known as Perry v. Schwarzenegger, is the first in which video will be recorded and disseminated by the court under a pilot program approved by the Judicial Council of the Ninth Circuit, governing body for federal courts in the western states. [...]

The U.S. District Court in San Francisco, which has installed cameras and obtained other equipment for video recording, will fully control the process. Because this is an experimental effort, the court cannot guarantee the reliability, accuracy or availability of the audio/video presentation. [...]

Due to time zone differences, starting and ending times will differ and viewing hours may be limited at some remote viewing locations. Public access to the remote viewing locations will be on a first-come-first-served basis. No photographs or recording of the audio and video displayed at the remote viewing locations will be allowed.

REMOTE VIEWING LOCATIONS
(Additional sites may be announced)
Perry v. Schwarzenneger
Case No. 3:09-cv-02292

James R. Browning United States Courthouse
95 7th St.
San Francisco, California
Library Conference Room, First Floor

United States Court of Appeals
Pioneer Courthouse
700 S.W. Sixth Avenue
Portland, Oregon
Courtroom, Second Floor

William K. Nakamura United States Courthouse
1010 Fifth Avenue
Seattle, Washington
Courtroom One, Eighth Floor

Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse
225 Cadman Plaza East
Brooklyn, New York
Courtroom 8A South, Eighth Floor

Richard H. Chambers United States Courthouse
125 South Grand Avenue
Pasadena, California
Courtroom Three, First Floor