 The issue of same-sex marriage reemerged in 2004, when Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom directed the city-county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing the California Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law to all groups.The marriages were quickly annulled by the California Supreme Court, and the city of San Francisco issued a legal challenge that was consolidated with other challenges to California's marriage laws.Meanwhile, the California legislature twice passed, and twice received vetos from governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on, bills that would have legalized same-sex marriages in the state.