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Showing posts with the label James Ware

San Francisco judge: DOMA ‘discriminatory’ for denying same-sex partner benefits

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James Ware, District Judge (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) SAN FRANCISCO, April 11, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A federal judge in San Francisco has called federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman discriminatory for preventing partner benefits from going to a federal employee’s homosexual partner. On Tuesday, Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said that the government’s guarantee of a “discrimination-free workplace” was violated when Christopher Nathan, a law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Maria Elena James, attempted but failed to obtain insurance benefits for the male lover once recognized by the state of California as his “spouse,”  reports  the San Francisco Gate .  Although same-sex “marriage” is not legally recognized in California, the state has continued to treat as valid marriage licenses issued to homosexual couples during the 5-month window that the practice was legal in 2008. Because the ruling was part of the court’s employee dispute-resolution program, Ware

Judge Walker should resign

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Image via Wikipedia Judges have a duty not only to apply the law without bias, but also to do so in a way that avoids even the mere appearance of impropriety .  This idea is a cornerstone of the judiciary .   Thus, the Supreme Court has long been clear that “no man can be a judge in his own case and no man is permitted to try cases where he has an interest in the outcome.”    Against the backdrop of these bedrock principles, it is clear that the ruling of Judge Walker must be vacated. Over eight months after declaring unconstitutional the democratic decision of over 7 million Californians to reaffirm traditional marriage, Judge Walker publicly revealed that he has been in a committed same-sex relationship for over 10 years.  Instead of revealing these facts to the parties and their counsel, Judge Walker kept them to himself, even though the subject matter of the case presented an issue in which Judge Walker and his partner had a direct interest.  Judge Walker’s course of condu

Homosexual judge bias is not questioned

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Image via Wikipedia  A federal judge in San Francisco   has dismissed  an argument that a judge’s hidden homosexual relationship is grounds to throw out his ruling against Proposition 8 , California ’s constitutional amendment declaring marriage as between a man and a woman. Prop. 8 supporters have argued that former Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ’s long-term relationship with a man gave an appearance of bias that would damage public trust in his even-handededness in the historic debate. Walker failed publicly to confirm the relationship until after he had ruled to overturn Prop. 8 and retired from the bench. California voters approved Proposition 8 in November 2008; the new amendment cut off all benefits associated with marriage that had been made available to “married” homosexual couples since the state Supreme Court imposed same-sex “marriage” earlier that year. However, Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware argued that because Walker never sought to marry his part