Supervisor David Campos

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Campos today sent a letter to City Attorney Dennis Herrera, asking him for a legal opinion on whether the mayor "has the authority to unilaterally refuse to implement the duly-enacted civil rights legislation." The amendment was to go into effect today. It would have postponed the city's reporting of suspected undocumented juveniles charged with felonies until after they are convicted of the crime. Read SF Weekly's cover story on the issue here.

"We may have a strong-mayor system of government, but it is not a monarchy," Campos wrote. You can view the letter in its entirety here:

Campos.Letter.to.Herrera-12-10-09.pdf.

Mayor Gavin Newsom

​Campos added that this sets a "dangerous precedent" for the mayor "to disregard legislation the board properly passed." He invoked the argument in the same-sex marriage lawsuit against San Francisco: "a public official faithfully upholds the Constitution by complying with mandates of the Legislature,leaving to courts the decision whether those mandates are valid."

Before signing off with a signature worthy of the Declaration of Independence, Campos asked Herrera to issue an opinion "as soon as possible."