SAN FRANCISCO -- The University of California Students Association on Wednesday asked the state Supreme Court to return vehicle license fees to their pre-Schwarzenegger administration levels and restore money to education and other programs.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger acted illegally by lowering the license fee by two-thirds while the state general fund had insufficient money to offset the $2.6 billion loss, the association said.

The lawsuit said Schwarzenegger violated the law a second time by unilaterally cutting some appropriations to compensate.

The plaintiffs, who also include four individual students and two civil rights organizations, focused on a sharp cutback in programs that help underprivileged students prepare for and stay in the state's universities. The outreach programs were created after Proposition 209, the 1996 initiative that bars affirmative action in public university admissions.

"Without outreach programs the university is going to continue to close its doors to a large segment of California's population -- students from high schools in poor areas, communities of color, communities that have had difficulty gaining access to higher education," said Matt Kaczmarek, the association chairman.

The state Supreme Court normally would be the last judicial body to consider such a suit, but it has the power to take up matters it views as urgent without waiting for lower court rulings and appeals.

The justices' other options include rejecting the case outright or referring it to a lower court.

A spokeswoman said no decision was expected for at least a week.

H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger's Finance Department, said, "We would not have recommended taking this action unless we were convinced that the governor was on solid legal ground in exercising his executive branch powers." He said Schwarzenegger's position was supported by the state Controller's Office.

Palmer said the program reductions were authorized by a provision in last year's budget bill allowing the governor to shift up to 5 percent of an appropriation.

But the lawsuit said that provision can be invoked only to cover an unanticipated emergency and not a deficiency the governor has purposely created. The position appears to reflect the views of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

The legal petition also said Schwarzenegger exceeded the 5 percent cap by scrapping California State University's outreach program entirely and cutting the UC program by half.

Palmer said both programs were eliminated completely. He said the move was legal because the 5 percent limit applies to overall UC and CSU appropriations.

The alternative to eliminating outreach, he said, "would have been to take a similar amount from programs that affect the core instructional mission."