Two Berkeley Law students are providing daily accounts from the courtroom via a blog, of the high-profile gay marriage trial in California.
Perry v. Schwarzenegger, is a constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8 that began Jan. 11 in San Francisco federal district court.
The students, Amanda Beck and Sarah Ruby, are both journalists. They plan to provide “an inside look at the courtroom drama, witness testimony, legal maneuvers, and more.”
Amanda Beck is a second-year law student and a freelance reporter, with a degree in journalism, whose work has appeared in The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Sarah Ruby is a third-year law student who worked for the Bakersfield Californian. While in law school, she co-wrote an editorial about Prop 8 for the San Francisco Chronicle.
The lawsuit, brought by two same-sex couples who wish to marry, says California’s Prop 8 violates the U.S. constitutional guarantee of equal protection by discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender. The city of San Francisco is a party to the suit. The nonjury trial in Judge Vaughn Walker’s courtroom is scheduled to last up to three weeks.
