U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will
teach law after he retires from the bench in February, SF
Weekly
reported.
Walker is best known for ruling
California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, which defines marriage
as a heterosexual union in the California Constitution, in violation
of the U.S. Constitution.
The ruling was handed down in August
after Walker conducted a 13-day trial in January. Walker wrote that
the ban, approved narrowly by voters in November 2008 after the
California Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, violated the
constitutional rights of gay men and lesbians.
The ruling is currently on appeal; oral
arguments begin December 6.
The 66-year-old Walker will teach a
class at U.C. Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. Susan Gluss,
spokeswoman for the law school, told the paper that Walker's course
will cover complicated and “high-stakes” cases.
“It's always, always fantastic to
have the unique perspective of a judge,” Gluss said. “We don't
usually have that here. We have lots of lawyers [teaching].”
Walker is stepping down after 21 years
of judicial service.