A potentially big development affecting the proposed circumcision ban slated for the San Francisco ballot in November.
Here's a press release from San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office:
SAN FRANCISCO (July 27, 2011) -- San Francisco Superior Court Judge Loretta M. Giorgi issued a tentative ruling this afternoon (see text below) in the pre-election challenge to San Francisco's proposed ban on male circumcisions. The tentative ruling holds that because it "attempts to regulate a medical procedure, the proposed ordinance is expressly preempted. Moreover, it serves no legitimate purpose to allow a measure whose invalidity can be determined as a matter of law to remain on the ballot after such a ruling has been made."
We just received word from the real party in interest, Lloyd Schofield, that he intends to go forward with oral argument at tomorrow's scheduled hearing. The details of that hearing are below:
July 28, 2011 at 9:30 a.m.
San Francisco Superior Court
Judge Loretta M. Giorgi
400 McAllister Street, Dept. 302
As noted, this is a non-binding, tentative ruling, which does not always hold through completion of the case.
Last month, The California Report's Rachael Myrow interviewed Lloyd Schofield, the San Francisco resident who put the proposition on the ballot, and Martin Nussbaum, an attorney specializing in First Amendment religious cases as a proponent of freedom of religion. Listen to those interviews here.