Unless the state Supreme Court grants Lockyer's petition to take over the case, the gay marriage dispute will probably be heard by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ronald Quidachay, an appointee of former Gov. Jerry Brown and a strong advocate of diversity on the bench.
A spokesman for San Francisco City Atty. Dennis Herrera said the city has no objections to Quidachay.
The city previously had asked to have two lawsuits against gay marriage consolidated before Warren.
Warren had the first hearing on the marriages, but "now Judge Quidachay is equally up to speed on the case, and the city's position is that it has no preference for one over the other," said Matt Dorsey, Herrera's spokesman.
Warren, an appointee of former Gov. Pete Wilson and the grandson of the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, had given the city until March 29 to argue why gays should be allowed to continue to marry. That remains the next scheduled hearing in the case.
Liberty Counsel, one of the groups challenging San Francisco's gay marriages, had filed the motion to disqualify Warren.
A spokesman for the group declined to say why Warren was unacceptable, and the motion also failed to explain why Warren was deemed "prejudiced" to the group's lawsuit.