Good morning –

I am in the John Burton courthouse, ceremonial courtroom, on the 19th floor, in the overflow room awaiting the start of the federal trial challenging California’s Prop 8 which stripped same-sex couples of their marriage equality.

I just saw a banner at MSNBC that SCOTUS had denied Judge Walker’s plan to televise the trial. We’re told by the very helpful court personnel here (thanks, bmaz, your introductions went a long way this morning!) that the closed-circuit signal within this courthouse will be permitted, and they are attempting to find out what the story is about the remote federal courthouses around the country, as well as the planned upload of trial segments to YouTube.

I’m in the front row here, with a great view of the screen, which is split in three parts: Judge Walker, the witness stand, and counsel table. Counsel apparently just realized that the microphones are live, and got the AV folks to turn off the mike while they kibbitz, as lawyers do nervously, before trial.

(It’s 8:50 here in the courthouse; I’ve moved to another liveblogging diary, number TWO.)