SAN DIEGO -- A Superior Court judge issued a tentative ruling today rejecting the County of San Diego's argument that California's medical marijuana law should be overturned.

Judge William R. Nevitt, who is scheduled to hear arguments in the controversial case at 1:30 p.m. today, issued a tentative ruling at 11 a.m.

Nevitt's ruling rejected the county's argument that California's decade-old, voter-approved law should be overturned because it conflicted with federal law.

San Diego County supervisors filed a lawsuit in state court in December 2005 after refusing to comply with state orders to create an identification card and registration program for medical marijuana users.

California is one of 11 states where voters have said seriously-ill people should be allowed to legally use marijuana to ease their suffering if they have a doctor's recommendation.

Federal law says marijuana has no medicinal value and is illegal for anyone to use.

The county argued that the California law should be "pre-empted" by federal law, which says all marijuana use is illegal, under the U.S. Constitution's "Supremacy Clause," which says federal laws should be "supreme" over state laws.

Nevitt, however, said in his tentative ruling that the county's argument ignored the corollary to the Supremacy Clause that held in matters where states traditionally legislate, state law is considered pre-eminent.

Nevitt also ruled out the county's argument that the state's order for counties to issue identification cards for medical marijuana users should be overturned.

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.