CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / SAN FRANCISCO

A federal judge says the sponsors of California’s same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8, must hand over some internal campaign records to lawyers seeking to overturn the voter-enacted initiative.

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker denied a request Thursday by the Protect Marriage campaign to shield all e-mails, memos and reports dealing with its strategy, voter messages and rationale for preventing gay couples from marrying. The group had argued that releasing the information violated its supporters’ free speech rights and potentially subjected them to harassment from gay marriage advocates.