Judge sets Jan 2010 federal gay marriage trial (Reuters)

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Reuters - A federal court case which could legalize gay marriage in the United States will begin trial in January 2010 with high-profile lawyers but not longtime gay and conservative antagonists lined up on opposite sides of the debate, a district judge ruled on Wednesday.

Aiming to speed a contentious case that could be destined for the U.S. Supreme Court, San Francisco District Court Judge Vaughn Walker denied requests to join the case from gay advocacy groups and social conservatives who said they would not be adequately represented.

Ted Olson, the conservative lawyer whose Supreme Court arguments put President George W. Bush in the White House, and David Boies, his opponent in the 2000 case, joined forces to overturn California's Proposition 8 gay marriage ban and the Wednesday hearing left them in firm control.

"The lawyers will multiply like locusts!" David Thompson, whose firm Cooper and Kirk is defending the ban, warned in a courtroom already filled with about 30 attorneys.

"At bottom, they tender nothing new to this case," except experience, Olson told the court.

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Six U.S. states, mostly in the northeast, have allowed same-sex marriage, but 40 forbid it. Californians voted their ban in place last November, ending court-approved legality and sparking national protests.