Sparing the Supreme Court the burden of doing so, a Ninth Circuit motions panel (consisting of two Clinton appointees, Michael Hawkins and Sidney Thomas, and one Reagan appointee, Edward Leavy) has unanimously granted Prop 8 proponents’ (and Imperial County’s) motion for a stay of Judge Walker’s anti-Prop 8 judgment pending appeal.  Evidently recognizing that Walker’s effort to alter the status quo was so manifestly beyond the bounds of reasonable judgment, the Ninth Circuit panel stated in one simple sentence that it was granting the motion.  It also ordered that the appeal be expedited, with oral argument to take place during the week of December 6.

This is the third major smackdown that Walker has earned in this case.  I’m very much looking forward to a fourth.