The federal challenge to Proposition 8 could be televised under a new experimental program authorized by the Judicial Council of the ninth circuit.

The authorization arrives just weeks before the federal trial over Prop. 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California last year, is scheduled to begin in San Francisco, according to The Recorder.

“Cases to be considered for the pilot program, and the distribution details, will be decided by each district's chief judge, in consultation with 9th Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski,” reported The Recorder. “In San Francisco it is the Northern District of California's chief judge, Vaughn Walker [pictured], who is presiding over the federal challenge to Prop 8.”

Ted Olson and David Boies, the star litigators representing the plaintiffs in the case, support the televised proceedings, but the defendants oppose them on the grounds that witnesses could be subjected to harassment and retribution, The Recorder reported.