The three-judge panel that will hear arguments next week in the legal battle over California's ban on same-sex marriage is an eclectic blend that covers the ideological spectrum of the sprawling 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

At first blush, the panel would appear to favor lawyers representing same-sex couples fighting to invalidate Proposition 8, which forbids gay marriage in California. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, the leader of the 9th Circuit's liberal bloc and often at the center of some of the court's most controversial decisions, will hear the case, along with Michael Daly Hawkins, an Arizona-based judge and Clinton appointee generally considered a moderate but is often more liberal on social questions.

The panel, which was randomly assigned and revealed Monday, is rounded out by one clear conservative, Idaho-based Judge N. Randy Smith, one of the court's newest members and a Republican appointee of former President George W. Bush.