
The ruling, which did not address the constitutionality of the state's marriage laws, is the country's first permanent injunction issued by a court that bars a public official from conducting same-sex marriages, according to the Lambda Legal Education and Defense Fund, a national gay rights group. The California Supreme Court heard arguments late last month on a similar case, against Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, and a ruling is pending.

In his decision yesterday, Justice E. Michael Kavanagh of State Supreme Court in Ulster County took exception to the notion that public officials like the New Paltz mayor, Jason West, could resist laws that they believe to be unconstitutional.

''That an elected official may willfully violate a law any time he or she believes it is unconstitutional has profound and unsettling implications,'' Justice Kavanagh wrote. ''This view, if accepted, would mean that the mayor is a law unto himself.''

E. Joshua Rosenkranz, a lawyer for Mayor West, said he intended to appeal the decision. ''This does not stop with Judge Kavanagh,'' Mr. Rosenkranz said. ''This is only the beginning of the process.''

In addition to the injunction, sought by a trustee on the New Paltz village board, Mr. West also faces criminal charges for the more than 20 same-sex marriage ceremonies he performed on a platform outside the low brick village hall in late February. The Ulster County district attorney charged Mr. West with the criminal misdemeanor of solemnizing marriages for people without licenses.

