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Supreme Court of California


LOCKYER v. CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, S122923

In a case arising from the refusal to enforce the provisions of California's marriage statutes, a local executive official with the ministerial duty of enforcing a state statute exceeds his/her authority when, without any court having determined that the statute is unconstitutional, the official deliberately declines to enforce the statute because he/she believes that the statute is unconstitutional.

Appellate Information

  • Decided 08/12/2004
  • Published 08/12/2004

Judges

  • GEORGE, C.J.

Court

  • Supreme Court of California

Counsel

  • For Appellant:
  •  Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Andrea Lynn Hoch, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Louis R. Mauro, Assistant Attorney General, Kathleen A. Lynch, Zackery Morazzini, Hiren Patel, Timothy M. Muscat, Douglas J. Woods and Christopher E. Krueger, Deputy Attorneys General, for Petitioner Bill Lockyer, as Attorney General of the State of California., Alliance Defense Fund, Benjamin W. Bull, Scottsdale, AZ, Jordan W. Lorence, Fairfax, VA, Gary S. McCaleb, Glen Lavy, Robert H. Tyler;  Center for Marriage Law, Vincent P. McCarthy;  Law Offices of Terry L. Thompson and Terry L. Thompson for Petitioners Barbara Lewis, Charles McIlhenny and Edward Mei., Liberty Counsel, Mathew D. Staver, Rena M. Lindevaldsen, New York, NY;  and Ross S. Heckmann, Glendale, CA, for Randy Thomasson and Campaign for California Families as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner Bill Lockyer, as Attorney General of the State of California., Divine QueenMariette Do-Nguyen as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner Bill Lockyer, as Attorney General of the State of California., Law Offices of Peter D. Lepiscopo and Peter D. Lepiscopo, San Diego, CA, for California Senators William J. (“Pete”) Knight, Dennis Hollingsworth, Rico Oller, Bill Morrow, Thomas McClintock, Dick Ackerman, Samuel Aanestad, Bob Margett, Ross Johnson, Jim F. Battin, Jr., California AssemblyMembers Ray Haynes, George A. Plescia, Tony Strickland, Bill Maze, Robert Pacheco, Doug La Malfa, Guy S. Houston, Steven N. Samuleian, Dave Codgill, Tom Harman, Dave Cox, Patricia C. Bates, Russ Bogh, Kevin McCarthy, Todd Spitzer, Alan Nakanishi, Keith S. Richman, Shirley Horton, Sharon Runner, Jay La Suer and Pacific Justice Institute as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioners Barbara Lewis, Charles McIlhenny and Edward Mei.

  • For Appellees:
  • Dennis J. Herrera, City Attorney, Therese M. Stewart, Chief Deputy City Attorney, Ellen Forman, Wayne K. Snodgrass, Thomas S. Lakritz, K. Scott Dickey, Kathleen S. Morris and Sherri Sokeland Kaiser, Deputy City Attorneys;  Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, Bobbie J. Wilson, Pamela K. Fulmer, Amy E. Margolin, Sarah M. King, Kevin H. Lewis, Ceide Zapparoni, Glenn M. Levy and Chandra Miller Fienen, San Francisco, CA, for Respondents., Alma Marie Triche-Winston and Charel Winston as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondents.,  Law Offices of Waukeen Q. McCoy and Waukeen Q. McCoy, San Francisco, CA, for Dr. Anthony Bernan, Andrew Neugebauer, Stephanie O'Brien, Janet Levy, Dr. Gregory Clinton, Gregory Morris, Joseph Falkner, Arthur Healey, Kristin Anderson, Michele Betegga, Derrick Anderson and Wayne Edfors II as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondents., Morrison & Foerster, Ruth N. Borenstein, Stuart C. Plunkett and Johnathan E. Mansfield, San Francisco, CA, for Marriage Equality California, Inc., and Twelve Married Same-Sex Couples as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondents., Ann Miller Ravel, County Counsel (Santa Clara) and Martin H. Dodd, Assistant County Counsel, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondents., Dana McRae, County Counsel (Santa Cruz), Shannon M. Sullivan and Jason M. Heath, Assistant County Counsel, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondents., Bingham McCutchen, John R. Reese, San Francisco, CA, Matthew S. Gray, Walnut Creek, CA, Susan Baker Manning, Huong T. Nguyen and Danielle Merida, San Francisco, CA, for Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Respondents., National Center for Lesbian Rights, Shannon Minter, Courtney Joslin;  Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe, Stephen V. Bomse, Richard DeNatale, Hilary E. Ware, San Francisco, CA;  ACLU of Southern California, Martha A. Matthews, Los Angeles, CA;  Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Jon W. Davidson, Jennifer C. Pizer, New York, NY;  Steefel, Levitt & Weiss, Dena L. Narbaitz, Clyde J. Wadsworth;  ACLU Foundation of Northern California, Tamara Lange, San Francisco, CA, Alan I. Schlosser;  Law Office of David C. Codell, David C. Codell and Aimee Dudovitz, Los Angeles, CA, for Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, Sarah Conner and Gillian Smith, Margot McShane and Alexandra D'Amario, Dave Scott Chandler and Jeffrey Wayne Chandler, Theresa Michelle Petry and Cristal Rivera-Mitchel, Lancy Woo and Cristy Chung, Joshua Rymer and Tim Frazer, Jewell Gomez and Diane Sabin, Myra Beals and Ida Matson, Arthur Frederick Adams and Devin Wayne Baker, Jeanne Rizzo and Pali Cooper, Our Family Coalition and Equality California as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondents., Roger Jon Diamond, Santa Monica, CA, as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Respondents.
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