THE CLOSERS

Ted Olsen (l), David Boies (r)

Closing arguments in the Prop 8 federal case takes place today in San Francisco.

For live blogging:  

1. Courage Campaign Prop 8 Trial Tracker

2. FireDogLake

The day's schedule:

10:00 AM – 11:30 AM Plaintiffs give their closing argument (Ted Olson and David Boies)
11:30 AM – 11:45 AM City and County of San Francisco take their turn
11:45 AM – 12:00 PM Governor, Attorney General and county defendants are up
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Lunch/David Boies and Chad Griffin talk to the media
1:00 PM – 3:15 PM Proponents are on the hot seat (argued by Charles Cooper)
3:15 PM – 3:45 PM Plaintiffs’ get a chance to make their rebuttal
4:00 Plaintiffs are holding a press conference on the day’s events

*******************

Prop 8 backers, Protect Marriage, have filed a request for Judge Vaughn Walker to revoke the state's official recognition of California's existing 18,000 same-sex marriages:

Such an order would honor "the expressed will of the people," backers of the November 2008 ballot measure said Tuesday in their final written filing before Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker. Andrew Pugno, an attorney for Prop. 8's backers, said in an interview that the sponsors aren't asking Walker to nullify the 18,000 marriages, but only to rule that government agencies, courts and businesses no longer have to recognize the couples as married. Lawyers for two same-sex couples who sued to overturn Prop. 8, on the other hand, are asking Walker to lift the marriage ban permanently. The measure violates the constitutional guarantee of equality, they argued, and must be struck down "regardless of its level of public support."

That ruling won't be decided for a couple of weeks.