CALIFORNIA

Gay Jurist's Prop 8 Ruling Upheld

Federal judge said his sexual orientation not an issue.

Chief Judge James Ware of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco upheld Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling against Proposition 8 Tuesday, saying Walker had no reason to step aside in the case because he himself was gay and supported same-sex marriage. Walker, a Republican and now openly gay judge, has never declared whether or not he wished to marry his partner. Lawyers backing Prop 8 attacked him, saying he should have disclosed his sexual orientation before overturning the same-sex marriage ban. In his final ruling, Ware wrote: "It is not reasonable to presume that a judge is incapable of making an impartial decision about the constitutionality of a law, solely because, as a citizen, the judge could be affected by the proceedings."