Late Friday State Attorney General Kamala D. Harris issued the following statement in response to San Diego County Clerk Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr.’s filing asking the state Supreme Court to halt same-sex weddings pending a court hearing.
“The filing offers no new arguments that could deny same-sex couples their constitutionally protected civil rights. The federal injunction is still in effect, and it requires all 58 counties to perform same-sex marriages. No exceptions, ” the statement read
Earlier in the day Dronenburg, an elected Republican, had filed a petition arguing that the court should halt weddings while it considers the argument that the federal court ruling should apply only to the two couples who sued over Proposition 8, as well as to the county clerks in Alameda and Los Angeles counties, where the couples live.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times the petition follows a similar request this month from ProtectMarriage, the sponsors of the 2008 ballot measure. Like Dronenburg, that group argued that Gov. Jerry Brown lacked the authority to order county clerks to issue same-sex marriage licenses because the federal court ruling did not apply statewide.
Dronenburg’s action was filed for him by Charles S. LiMandri, a Rancho Santa Fe attorney and leader of the bid to restrict marriage to a man and a woman.
“The county clerk has acted independently on this matter,” the Los Angeles Times report quoted board Supervisor Greg Cox as saying. “No one else from the county was consulted or had any part of this court action, including the Board of Supervisors. The county’s position is and always has been that we, the county, will follow applicable law with regards to same-sex marriage.”
Supervisor David Roberts, who is gay, said that as soon as he heard what Dronenburg had done, he demanded a meeting to find out his motives, the report continued.
“I was livid, to say the least,” Roberts said. “As the first LGBT supervisor, with a married partner, I felt this was a slap in the face. But he says that’s not what this is about. We’ll see.”
Roberts said Dronenburg told him that he merely wants legal clarification and has no intention of refusing to issue licenses to same-sex couples. If that occurs, Roberts said, the county supervisors will step in to ensure they are issued.
“We aren’t going to let that happen,” Roberts said. “We believe in the law.”
