CA: Thanks to a semicolon, gays and lesbians keep marrying in San Francisco

AP via San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Feb. 17, 2004 | DAVID KRAVETS and LISA LEFF

[calcowgirl]

SAN FRANCISCO - Two judges delayed taking any action Tuesday to shut down San Francisco's same-sex wedding spree, citing court procedures as they temporarily rebuffed conservative groups enraged that the city's liberal politicians had already married almost 2,400 gay and lesbian couples.

[Don Joe]

And couldn't a semi-colon be retyped before Friday?

Are we to believe that they couldn't pencil it in, and fax it to the other side on the spot? For that matter, are we to believe that the other side didn't have representation there, at the hearing?

This is a game, that's all. I cannot believe that in any "normal" case, a minor typo wouldn't have been handled in a more common-sense manner. Even in a case like this, if the roles were reversed, I suspect the plaintiff would have had a red carpet rolled out for him, and all obstacles swept out of his way to expedite "prompt justice."

[nmh]

"It's as IF one of the Southern states had seceded, and Lincoln refused to even discuss it, and just went on about his business as if nothing had changed. Regardless of your personal sentiments on that war, consider the scenario, and how it applies to this situation. Because that's exactly what's happening."

The "IF" you referred to did not occurr and the point of the issue is two fold. It is unnatrual for same sex couples to marry. Secondly, the will of the people is being violated. It is ILLEGAL for same sex couples to marry.

[aomagrat]

"I am not trying to be petty here, but it is a big deal ... That semicolon is a big deal," said San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren.

Hey judge, missing something?

[tracer]

I was stating a concern that topics of this sort have resulted in violence and tragedy in San Francisco before, as opposed to advocating or hoping for anything.

As far as a "knock on (my) door and a free trip downtown," thanks for concern and warning. But if you knew anything about me, you'd know that such is not a realistic concern.

Nor should it be such for anyone. Last time I checked, we still have a First Amendment, and it is there for Amerians in all walks of life and in all occupations....

[Truthsayer20]

"They weren't taking a gamble, they weren't risking anything at all. It's a set up. The fix is in."

Exactly. And the next step in the grand scheme is for the media to step in with sob stories about forcefully broken "marriages" when California courts finally rule SF to be in violation of state law.

Maybe a sheriff in rural California should start giving out CCW permits to those who fulfil the requirements of a typical shall-issue state? I would be interesting to see how the courts and AG Lockyer would react to such an action. I bet it wouldn't take five minutes before the sheriff would find himself without a job in the county jail

[Iron Eagle]

Indeed, I have seen it done many times in Va from the chair of a judge's law clerk, and I have done it many a times as a practicing lawyer. (Particularly in some jurisdictions in Va where the parties many not leave, until an order has been presented.)

Many states don't even require lawyers to draft the order. Even in the rocket docket, the Court will draft the order itself, and I have seen state judges do it too.

This was nothing more than an excuse by the Court to delay issuing the stay, probably to permit as many people as possible to get "married."

This is just bizarre

[aruanan]

The Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund had asked the judge to issue an order commanding the city to "cease and desist issuing marriage licenses to and/or solemnizing marriages of same-sex couples; to show cause before this court."

"The way you've written this it has a semicolon where it should have the word 'or'," the judge told them. "I don't have the authority to issue it under these circumstances."

The judge is simply looking for an excuse. Saying that there should have been an "or" in place of the semicolon is pure invention. The semi-colon here is entirely correct. There were two orders. They were intimately related. The use of a semicolon is an indication of this intimate relation.

[Thud]

Gotta dot those i's and cross those t's, not vice versa! The pointy-headed bureaucrats strike back!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040218/us_nm/rights_gays_sanfrancisco_dc_8

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California will not accept the marriage licenses granted to thousands of same-sex couples in San Francisco because the city created its own form to remove such terms as "bride" and "groom," a state official said on Wednesday.

"There is a statewide form that every county has to use for marriage applications. If we receive application forms that are different from the single form used throughout the state, we will not accept them," said Nicole Kasabian Evans, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Agency.
...
Evans said her agency, which processes all state marriage license applications that become state records, would return the forms if the city sent them in -- but she admitted that the issue will really be decided in the courts because the weddings violate a state law defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Nancy Lafaro, director of the San Francisco County Clerk's office, said the marriage license applications gay and lesbian couples in San Francisco have filled out since last Thursday were changed. "For example, instead of saying bride or groom, the form in San Francisco says applicant one and applicant two," she said.

Lafaro added the same-sex marriage application form also uses the terms "unmarried individuals" rather than "unmarried man" or "unmarried woman ..."

[Xenalyte]

The Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund had asked the judge to issue an order commanding the city to "cease and desist issuing marriage licenses to and/or solemnizing marriages of same-sex couples; to show cause before this court."

In the opinion of this professional writer/proofreader, the semicolon acts as an AND.

[HiTech RedNeck]

So they were phoney from the getgo. Newsom knew this was going to happen and what do you want to bet he skates, because he was selling city endorsements on a form that, legally, was nothing.

[HiTech RedNeck]

logically it has to be an "or"; the city must quit "or" justifies it before the court. not both.

[Thud]

Gotta love political grandstanding - a complete freebie for Newsom.