Proposition 8 has been ruled unconstitutional, according to New York Magazine who had early word on today's ruling... more ›

Get ready to see some dirty laundry aired. Today Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker ordered gay marriage advocacy groups to turn over campaign materials from the election fight over Proposition 8... more ›

San Leandro residents Amanda Mata, 20, and her boyfriend Lamar Cotton, 27, allegedly bilked Safeway out of $232,000 in an elaborate (and admittedly clever) scheme involving phony credit cards and Nordstrom gift card purchases. The two are being held in an Alameda County jail while being indicted by a federal grand jury in SF. more ›

As expected, U.S. judge in San Francisco denied an injunction yesterday on a federal lawsuit that challenged Prop 8. What does this mean? This: So, after the California Supreme court came down with their ruling that even though state law gives gays a right to marry, you can take that right away. David Boies and Ted Olsen (former adversaries during the Bush v Gore brouhaha who came together for in order to protect "human decency") filed suit saying that Prop 8 violates federal constitutional law. Why? So that this one would go to the U.S. Supreme Court and cover everyone in America, win or lose. Anyway, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker decided not to rule on the question right now, but is going to have a trial soon to go over all the history of homophobia in the U.S., the effects of Prop 8 in California, etc., which should actually be interesting (even though it sounded like yesterday's trail was listless.) According to CBS5 / BCN, Walker has yet to set a trial date. "but ordered lawyers on both sides to submit a statement to him by Aug. 7 detailing which facts they agree on, which facts are in dispute and a 'plan of action' for resolving the case." (Hat tip: Rita Hao for her legal expertise.) more ›

Noted steroid aficionado, alleged perjurer, and keen deer hunter Barry Bonds scored a win today when a federal judge in San Francisco dismissed five of his 15 counts. Accused of fibbing when he denied feeling the sweet release anabolic steroids or human growth hormone. It seems that "the judge found that two counts duplicated other counts, two were based on ambiguous questions or answers and one other charge contained a typo in which prosecutors left out a key word," so they were dismissed. (Thank God Bonds didn't raep a fan.) The former Giant and holder of the Major League Baseball record for career home runs could still face up to 50 years in prison if convicted. more ›

Although the National Transportation Safety Board has yet to release its report on the causes of last year's crash, today the pilot of the Cosco Busan, John Joseph Cota of Petaluma, was charged in federal court. The feds, it seems, found him in violation of two federal laws when he accidentally steered the container ship into the Bay Bridge on November 9 2007, which then released 53,000 gallons of oil into the bay. more ›

Today a federal judge told the prosecutors to "re-craft its perjury case against Barry Bonds." The judge on the Bonds case, Susan Illston, claims that they "improperly lumped multiple alleged offenses into each of four counts of its indictment of the former Giants star." Whoops. Illston slammed the Bonds indictment, which was handed up last November, as "duplicitous." According to the Chron: more ›

Okay, here's an update on that lawsuit against AT&T and the Federal Government for illegally snooping on people's phone calls and e-mails. Basically, there are about seventeen similar lawsuits out there in the midst of the legal world and because they're all sort of similar-- whiny Al Queda supporters suing the telecoms and government for doing something unconstitutional, they've been mashed together into one big lawsuit sandwich. That sandwich will be heard in San Francisco's very own Federal Court by one U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker. The reasoning is because out of all the various suits out there, the AT&T one is the most advanced. Bully to the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation and how awesome would it be if they started their own University just so people could say they go to EFF U?) and the ACLU for being on the ball. more ›

There actually is a local component to this whole NSA wiretapping/eavesdropping scandal, one that is about to make the scandal more scandal-y. It involves AT&T and the claims of former AT&T technician Mark Klein that sometime in 2002, AT&T allowed the U.S. Government to build a secret room in their Folsom Street office for the express purpose of eavesdropping not just on phones, but the internet too. And yes, whenever we read about this, we picture guys in black suits, black ties, and black shades running around the AT&T offices led by a mysterious figure smoking a cigarette. more ›