Supreme Court Ends|Prop 8 Videotape Dispute

(CN) - The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the 9th Circuit to dismiss as moot a dispute over the release of videotape from the trial overturning Proposition 8, California's voter-approved ban on gay marriage.

Prop 8 supporters had sought to block the retention and release of trial video even to the parties, fearing it might eventually be released to the public.

The 9th Circuit refused to intervene, and the Supreme Court vacated and remanded, instructing the circuit court to dismiss the dispute as moot after the justices ruled 5-4 on Jan. 13 to block any broadcast of the trial to the general public.

In August, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker rejected the state's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional.

"The state does not have an interest in enforcing private moral or religious beliefs without an accompanying secular purpose," Walker wrote. "Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men and lesbians."

The Alliance Defense Fund has appealed Walker's ruling to the 9th Circuit.

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