Today the California Supreme Court will file its decision on the same-sex marriage licenses issued in San Francisco earlier this year.
Most legal experts expect the court to find that Mayor Gavin Newsom’s actions violated state laws, but it’s unclear whether the seven justices will invalidate the 3,955 marriages that took place between Feb. 12 and March 11. The court will not resolve the question of whether same-sex couples have the right to marry under the state constitution.
The ruling will be posted on the court’s website at 10 a.m. PT.
[Update (12:56): From the opinion, posted minutes ago:
[W]e agree with petitioners that local officials in San Francisco exceeded their authority by taking official action in violation of applicable statutory provisions. We therefore shall issue a writ of mandate directing the officials to enforce those provisions unless and until they are judicially determined to be unconstitutional and to take all necessary remedial steps to undo the continuing effects of the officials’ past unauthorized actions, including making appropriate corrections to all relevant official records and notifying all affected same-sex couples that the same-sex marriages authorized by the officials are void and of no legal effect.
To avoid any misunderstanding, we emphasize that the substantive question of the constitutional validity of California’s statutory provisions limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman is not before our court in this proceeding, and our decision in this case is not intended, and should not be interpreted, to reflect any view on that issue. We hold only that in the absence of a judicial determination that such statutory provisions are unconstitutional, local executive officials lacked authority to issue marriage licenses to, solemnize marriages of, or register certificates of marriage for same-sex couples, and marriages conducted between same-sex couples in violation of the applicable statutes are void and of no legal effect. Should the applicable statutes be judicially determined to be unconstitutional in the future, same-sex couples then would be free to obtain valid marriage licenses and enter into valid marriages.