Supporters of Proposition 8, the initiative that sought to ban same-sex marriages, have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn a decision by the San Francisco judge who declared that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.

According to ProtectMarriage.com, the organization that sponsored the 2008 ballot initiative, Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who retired from the San Francisco-based district court earlier this year, failed to disclose a long-term, same-sex relationship, and should have withdrawn himself from the case. The organization filed a motion Monday to set aside Walker’s ruling.

“The American people have a right to a fair judicial process, free from even the appearance of bias or prejudice,” said Andrew Pugno, general counsel for the official proponents of Proposition 8. “Judge Walker’s ten-year-long same-sex relationship creates the unavoidable impression that he was not the impartial judge the law requires. He was obligated to either recuse himself or provide full disclosure of this relationship at the outset of the case. These circumstances demand setting aside his decision.”

Sky Johnson, legal council for the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, strongly disagrees.

“These are really desperate tactics of the lowest order,” Johnson said. “The information about the judge was known at the time and they didn’t say anything. This is a ridiculous argument and if you follow the logic throughout, no judge would be allowed to rule on any case. Would a black judge be barred from a civil rights case? They lost badly with a very weak case and it took them a year-and-a-half to come up with this tactic. It’s a public relations gimmick, but in terms of having any success, their chances are zero. There’s no precedent anywhere for this to be successful.”

West Hollywood Major John Duran called this latest move by ProtectMarriage.com “sour grapes.”

“I think it was pretty widely known that Judge Walker was gay,” Duran said. “We certainly knew. Had the opposition used a tool like Google, they would have known too. It’s ingenuous. Women judges hear cases about sexual bias, and black and Latino judges hear cases about race discrimination. Judges are able to set aside their personal characteristics and judge the case on its own merits; otherwise, our judicial system would fall apart. We had something at risk too. [Walker] was a conservative Republican appointed by George Bush.”

Duran said he actually expected the lawsuit by Proposition 8 backers during the trial.