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Court rules Newsom overstepped authority, voids same-sex marriages |
Aug. 12, 2004 |
The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday
that San Francisco's mayor overstepped his authority
by issuing same-sex marriage licenses this spring. The
court also voided all the marriages of gay and lesbian
couples sanctioned by the city.
The court said the city violated the law when it issued the
certificates and performed the marriage ceremonies in a monthlong
wedding march that began Feb. 12, since both legislation
and a voter-approved measure defined marriage as a union
between a man and woman.
The court, however, did not resolve whether the California
Constitution would permit a same-sex marriage, ruling instead
on the narrow issue of whether local officials could bypass
California's judicial and legislative branches.
Chief Justice Ronald George noted that Thursday's ruling
doesn't address "the substantive legal rights of same
sex couples. In actuality, the legal issue before us implicates
the interest of all individuals in ensuring that public officials
execute their official duties in a manner that respects the
limits of the authorities granted to them as officeholders."
The justices also decided with a 5-2 vote to nullify the
3,995 marriages performed before the court halted the weddings
on March 11. Their legality, Justice Joyce Kennard wrote,
must wait until "the constitutionality of California
laws restricting marriages to opposite-sex couples has been
authoritatively resolved through judicial proceedings now
pending in the courts of California."
About a dozen gay and lesbian couples, some wearing wedding
dresses and tuxedos, waited for the decision on the steps
of the Supreme Court building. Some began to cry when Molly
McKay of Marriage Equality California read that their marriages
would be voided.
The same-sex marriages had virtually no legal value, but
powerful symbolic value. Their nullification by the high
court dismayed Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, the first same-sex
couple to receive a marriage license in San Francisco.
"Del is 83 years old and I am 79," Lyon said. "After
being together for more than 50 years, it is a terrible blow
to have the rights and protections of marriage taken away
from us. At our age, we do not have the luxury of time."
The justices agreed to resolve the legality of the weddings
sanctioned by Mayor Gavin Newsom after emergency petitions
were filed by conservative interest groups and the state's
top law enforcement official, Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
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