Facts matter! Judge Vaughn Walker's Proposition 8 decision

I'm on a mailing list with a bunch of my high school classmates (1968), and, representing a pretty good cross-section of political philosophies, we argue a lot about politics, science, religion. The usual stuff. There's a small group of very ardent conservatives who I'd put in the Tea Party category. One of the things they often do is to pass along things that have been going around the 'net that support their point of view.

One of my classmates is (thankfully) quite anal about fact checking, and in a majority of cases, he can demonstrate that the information offered is fabricated or mistaken, or at least taken out of context. The conservatives respond by making fun of the classmate, and by deciding that they no longer believe in the source of his refutation. Never, however, do they stop passing on new bits of false information. One of them says, "I'll pass it on and believe it until it's proven false!" I point out to him, thinking I might be doing him a favor, that his constant presenting of arguments backed by misinformation is making him look bad. I point out that I try to get my information from reputable places, places that take the trouble to check facts. But he keeps passing new things along without seeming to care whether they're true or not.

One of the problems we're having in our country these days is that advocacy organizations are making things up and publishing them. If they get caught, it's not too big a deal, because some of those they've fooled will either not hear the truth, or don't really want to hear it. People are also confusing fact and opinion. One of the guys on my list says, "If I post an editorial, are ya gonna snopes the opinion?" Of course not, I say, only the facts supporting the opinion.

So I get depressed about the lack of respect for facts and scientific rigor that I see all around me.

Thank goodness facts and rigor still matter in a court of law. Thank goodness facts matter to Judge Vaughn Walker, whose decision overturned California's Proposition 8! If you get a chance to read it, do. It's a good read, and a victory for anyone who believes that even though there are "two sides to every question," one side usually carries a lot more weight than the other side.

The judge's decision shows just how poor a job the proponents of Prop. 8 did in defending it. The only two witnesses on their side who claimed expertise failed miserably because they were not actually experts, and their evidence did not stand up to scrutiny. If you want to prove that children of two heterosexual parents will be better off than those of two gays, you've got to have studies that prove your point, and your studies need peer review. It's not enough to just assert.

Here is Judge Walker, explaining it better than I can:

"Plaintiffs called nine expert witnesses. As the education and experience of each expert show, plaintiffs’ experts were amply qualified to offer opinion testimony on the subjects identified. Moreover, the experts’ demeanor and responsiveness showed their comfort with the subjects of their expertise. For those reasons, the court finds that each of plaintiffs’ proffered experts offered credible opinion testimony on the subjects identified."

And:

"Plaintiffs presented eight lay witnesses, including the four plaintiffs, and nine expert witnesses. Proponents’ evidentiary presentation was dwarfed by that of plaintiffs. Proponents presented two expert witnesses and conducted lengthy and thorough cross-examinations of plaintiffs’ expert witnesses but failed to build a credible factual record to support their claim that Proposition 8 served a legitimate government interest." (Emphasis mine.)

Facts matter.

Link to the Proposition 8 decision:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35374462/Prop-8-Ruling-FINAL

And may I say, finally, in this modern case of civil rights, thank you Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown for not blocking the schoolhouse door. Declining to defend Proposition 8 was a great thing to do!