The sponsors of California's Proposition 8 filed papers in federal court in San Francisco today seeking nullification of a ruling that struck down the ban on same-sex marriage. The sponsors argued that the trial judge in the case, now-retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, should have disqualified himself from the case because he has a long-term gay partner. They alleged Walker had a personal interest in the outcome of the case because he might want to marry his partner. Walker's "impartiality might reasonably have been questioned from the outset," the sponsors' attorneys wrote. As a result, the proponents argued, "the only responsible and just course is to vacate the judgment entered in this case."