SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed the state attorney general Friday to take immediate action to stop San Francisco's parade of same-sex marriages, hours after a second San Francisco Superior Court judge refused to order a halt to the unions.
In a strongly worded letter to Bill Lockyer, the governor said that because San Francisco's actions "are directly contrary to state law and present an imminent risk to civil order, I hereby direct you to take immediate steps to obtain a definitive judicial resolution of this controversy."
In a speech Friday night at the California Republican Party convention in Burlingame, Schwarzenegger departed from his prepared text to comment on the issue.
"We are seeing in San Francisco that the courts have dropped the ball," he said. "It's time for the city of San Francisco to start respecting state law."
The crowd of 700 Republican activists gave him a standing ovation.
A spokeswoman for Lockyer said late Friday that her office had been in close contact with the governor's staff and planned to seek a judgment in the court case soon declaring San Francisco's actions in violation of state law. But she stressed that the city's experiment posed no risk to public safety and noted that the governor had no authority over the independently elected Lockyer.
"The governor cannot direct the attorney general," said Hallye Jordan. "He can direct the Highway Patrol. He can direct 'Terminator 4.' But he can't tell the attorney general what to do. However, we are his lawyer, and we are moving as expeditiously -- with deliberation -- as possible."
Lockyer was reluctantly pulled into the San Francisco controversy Thursday, when city officials sued the state alleging that state law defining marriage as between "a man and a woman" violated the California Constitution by discriminating against gays and lesbians. That action became part of the broader legal challenge to the city now wending through the courts.
By day's end Friday, more than 6,300 people had been married in same-sex civil ceremonies performed at San Francisco City Hall over the last week. Mayor Gavin Newsom, who cleared the way for the marriages, performed one himself Friday for a state official.
The ruling by Superior Court Judge Ronald Evans Quidachay allows the city to continue the marriages until the case is heard on its merits next month.
The city says it is upholding the state Constitution's equal protection clause, which forbids discrimination. Legal challengers of the government-sanctioned marriages argue that Newsom and his county clerk are in blatant violation of state law and should be restrained.
Friday's court hearing came just three days after Superior Court Judge James L. Warren issued a nearly identical ruling. In both hearings -- which stemmed from lawsuits by opponents of same-sex marriage -- the judges ruled that challengers had not shown that the marriages were causing immediate and irreparable harm.
"Both judges recognize that there's no one who's hurt by allowing gay people to be married," Chief Deputy City Atty. Therese Stewart said after Friday's hearing. "The anti-gay groups say we've violated the rule of law. Obviously, their law books don't include the state Constitution."
Other proponents were equally delighted.
"Four times in seven days, courts have said San Francisco can keep marrying same-sex couples," said Jon Davidson, senior counsel for Lambda Legal at its Western regional office in Los Angeles. "While this fight is far from over, this case will ultimately resolve whether the California Constitution requires that same-sex couples be given the equal right to marry."
Warren had previously ruled on a challenge brought by the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Quidachay ruled Friday in a case brought by the Campaign for California Families and its executive director, Randy Thomasson. The judge agreed to consolidate both cases, although it remained unclear which judge would ultimately hear the matter.
Thomasson's group said Friday that it would use its one challenge allowed under the law to seek Warren's removal from the case.
Attorney Mathew Staver of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel said he remained confident that "we are moving forward to stop this situation."
"Obviously, we would have wanted to have the stay immediately issued so the circus-like atmosphere we're seeing in San Francisco would come to an end and we could litigate this in a calm fashion," he said. "We will be back here in March, at which point the city must show why they should be allowed to continue."
A hearing in the case before Warren had been set for March 29, but if the matter is placed before Quidachay, the hearing could occur in mid-March.
The complaint filed by the city against the state will also be considered, along with the other two cases, attorneys said Friday.
Lockyer has vowed to uphold the law.
