Supreme Court debates Prop. 8, DOMA: Ask the experts [Video chat]

As the U.S. Supreme Court hears a second day of historic arguments on gay marriage, The Times will host a live video chat at 10 a.m. Wednesday with two leading legal experts and legal affairs reporter Maura Dolan.

Those experts are John Eastman, a Chapman University constitutional law professor who supports California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, and Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at UC Irvine and a constitutional law professor.

Eastman told The Times on Tuesday that he was “cautiously optimistic” after listening to the arguments in the courtroom.

FULL COVERAGE: Battle over gay marriage

And Chemerinsky said he saw little support on the U.S. Supreme Court for keeping Proposition 8, California’s ban on gay marriage.

He noted that a reading of the transcript showed that several justices were particularly concerned about standing, especially Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

If the court dismisses the appeal on standing, the ruling by a federal district judge would probably stand.

“There might be a majority to leave the district judge’s opinion in place,” Chemerinsky said. “On the other hand, it is also possible the court could reach the merits. Only two justices—Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia—seemed clearly supportive of Proposition 8.”

We’ll be discussing their predictions, key moments and any other questions readers may have during a live video chat Tuesday. We invite people with questions, perspectives and other comments to join the discussion.