The California Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea to order
county clerks to stop issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian
couples.
“The request for an immediate temporary stay or injunctive
relief is denied,” states
a brief court order.
Ernest Dronenburg's petition, filed Friday, claims that a state
directive ordering clerks to issue marriage licenses to gay couples
does not apply to him as a San Diego county clerk.
“I asked for a stay because it's cruel to set up people,”
Dronenburg told CBS8. “In 2004, the last time there was a case,
the court came out against it and they had to unwrap 4,000 marriages
– that is hurtful.”
Proposition 8 tumbled after the Supreme Court ruled that
interveners lacked standing to defend the law, leaving in place a
2010 circuit court ruling declaring it unconstitutional.
Within days after the Supreme Court ruled, the Ninth Circuit Court
of Appeals lifted its stay in the ruling, allowing same-sex marriages
to resume in California. On June 28, Governor Jerry Brown and
Attorney General Kamala Harris, both Democrats, ordered clerks in all
58 counties to resume issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
In a current lawsuit being considered by the high court, Protect
Marriage, the group that sponsored the 2008 amendment, argues, among
other things, that Brown does not have the authority to end
enforcement of Proposition 8 and that the 2010 ruling only applies to
the two counties where plaintiffs live, not the entire state.
Dronenburg had asked the court to block the state directive until
the lawsuit is settled.