California's Supreme Court on Friday refused an appeal by the state's top legal official to immediately order a halt to San Francisco's defiant gay marriage blitz.
The court's refusal came after two San Francisco judges last week denied requests by conservative groups seeking emergency orders halting the marriages until the issue over whether state laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional is settled.
The Supreme Court instead ordered San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his city to show by March 5 why the top court should not halt the same-sex marriage blitz and defend his actions.
"Respondents are directed to file an opposition to the petition, addressing both the request for an immediate cease and desist order or stay and the merits of the petition, on or before Friday, March 5, 2004," the court said.
The decision was a response to Attorney General Bill Lockyer's petition on Friday asking the court to immediately halt the gay marriages and invalidate the more than 3,000 unions sanctioned by the city since Feb. 12.
Mayor Newsom two weeks ago ordered officials to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in an open challenge to state laws banning the politically explosive practice.
The city and the mayor maintain that the laws defining marriage as being a union between a man and a woman are discriminatory and therefore violate the state's Constitution, making them unlawful.
Lockyer's legal challenge to San Francisco's campaign of civil disobedience came after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered him to stop the marriages that he said posed an imminent threat to civil order.
But while gay groups will view the court ruling as a victory, Lock-yer's office said the attorney general took the ruling as a good omen.
"We view this as a positive action, indicating the Supreme Court is seriously considering our request for the court to resolve the issue over the validity of the same-sex licenses quickly," spokeswoman Hallye Jordan said.
Lockyer argued earlier that the law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman was clear and must be obeyed.
"The law is clear," he said.
"Individuals and government entities that object to statutes may work to change them through the legislative or initiative process.
"But unless an appellate court strikes the law down as unconstitutional, state statutes must be followed and they must be enforced," he said, after filing papers in a bid to settle the row once and for all.
With elections only a few months away, both Republican and Democratic leaders feel they must tread a fine line over the issue, fearing a backlash whether they either support or oppose the practice.
Notoriously free-thinking San Francisco boasts the US' largest gay community and said it wanted to set an example of tolerance and equality in the country.
The California Supreme Court was the first in the US to legalize marriage between people of different races in 1948, and 25 years ago it made discrimination against gays illegal.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese