Posted on 02/16/2004 11:54:52 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Schwarzenegger urged to arrest S.F. mayor
Group says Newsom should face prison for false marriage licenses
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
A Christian legal group wants California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to arrest the mayor of San Francisco for issuing nearly 2,000 marriage licenses to homosexual couples in defiance of state law.
The American Family Association Center for Law and Policy called Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to oversee the nation's first officially sanctioned same-sex weddings Thursday "an arrogant stunt" proving "the radical homosexual movement will trample the rights of all who stand in their way."
The AFA's law center wrote Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Bill Lockyer Friday insisting the mayor not only violated civil law, but criminal law as well.
The letter cites California's penal code Section 115, which "prohibits the knowing procurement of any false or forged instrument to be filed or recorded in any public office."
The penalty for the felony, the letter notes, is up to three years in prison. The AFA says this means three years for each false certificate issued.
With the clerk's office kept open over the weekend, more than 1,700 same-sex couples have been issued licenses since Thursday, when the city became the site of the first officially sanctioned "gay marriage" in American history.
Opponents of same-sex marriage are confident they will convince San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay to issue a temporary restraining order after a hearing this morning.
The motion filed on behalf of the pro-family lobby group Campaign for California Families by the public-interest firms Lively & Ackerman and Liberty Counsel presents an "irrefutable argument" that Newsom and Clerk Nancy Alfaro had no authority to redefine marriage in direct conflict with California law, asserted the group's president and general counsel Mathew Staver.
"The rule of law will be restored in California," Staver said. "The mayor and the clerk have no right to act as tyrants, ruling San Francisco as their personal dictatorship."
The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund sought an emergency hearing Friday afternoon but was rejected for failing to give defendants the 24-hours notice required by law.
A hearing in ADF's lawsuit also will be held today.
Newsom argues homosexuals should be able to marry based on the California Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. The 36-year-old mayor, who began his term Jan. 8, insists he merely is fulfilling his duty.
"I'm not interested as a mayor in moving forward with a separate but unequal process for people to engage in marriages," Newsom said Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America." "The people of this city and certainly around the state are feeling that separate but unequal doesn't make sense."
But the Alliance Defense Fund – representing state Sen. William Knight, author of a successful state ballot-measure that limited marriage to a man and a woman – argues the San Francisco County Clerk has no authority under the state's constitution to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
"This isn't civil disobedience on the mayor's part; its sheer unfettered anarchy and complete disdain for the rule of law," ADF chief counsel Benjamin Bull said. "No mayor, not even the mayor of San Francisco, has the authority to defy the laws of the state in which they reside."
The statutes under the family code specify marriage is reserved to a man and a woman, and Bull points out no court has declared that section to be unconstitutional.
"Officials charged with solemnizing marriages must enforce those statutes on constitutional grounds when issuing marriage licenses, regardless of what [Mayor] Newsom orders them to do," said Bull.
This is common practice in homosexual parades...a sight creating sore eyes.
I thought Arnold vetoed that.
Well, thank God they had that law in place before the mayor started issuing certificates.
Now let's see if California justice meets the standard of the law.
Heh, heh, heh .... and let Judge Moore be the one that counters all of their rants.
Now what's going to happen with the marriage licence fees collected for the invalid marriage licences? A refund? How much time was spent issuing the invalid homosexual marriage licences, how much time will be spent refunding the collected fees, and how much total time was wasted where city workers should have been doing valid work?
I think Newsom should have to pay for this cleanup out of his own pocket and be removed as mayor. And just perhaps he's done more harm to the homosexual agenda than he ever thought possible.
No kidding. But hey, according to the Arnoldbots, his stance on social issues is IRREVILIVANT because Kalifornistan supposedly "never" deals with hot button social issues --according the Arnoldbots (as they "explained" during the recall) , that's all taken care of at the federal level and it's all set in stone. Certainly, it "never" comes up for statewide government and won't affect CA in anyway even if it did. All ARINOLD needs to be is a "fiscal conservative"
Some of the "irrelevant" social issues that arisen in aftermath of ARINOLD'S election:
* California General Assembly Passes Legislation "Celebrating" Abortion on Demand, is sent to pro-abortion Arnold's desk for approval
*San Francisco creates floodgates for gay marriage, is swarmed with gay activists, tries to spread this to the rest of the state, RINO governor supports recognizing couples.
* New Effort are launched in CA to Give Drivers Licenses to Illegal Immigrants ONCE AGAIN, RINO governor open to idea.
*California Democrats Refuse to Notify Parents of Sex Ed Speakers, RINO Gov. does nothing to pressure them into switching gears.
*Prison systems overcrowding and falling apart, efforts made to stop executions of several murderers and abolish death penalty -- RINO governor supports delays in execution, unlike his predecessor
*Prop. 54, the one thing that would phase out affirmative action and move people towards a color blind society, is soundly defeated by RINO Governor says only "right wing crazies" support it.
Aren't you glad there's a "fiscal conservative" in the Governor's mansion instead of one of those "unelectable" Republicans who actually oppose these things?
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