VIRGINIA: Judge Promises To Rule "Soon" In AFER's Marriage Equality Lawsuit

The judge hearing opening arguments in AFER's marriage equality lawsuit against Virginia ended today's proceedings by promising to make her ruling "soon."

Virginia Solicitor General Stuart A. Raphael compared the state constitutional amendment banning such unions to the commonwealth’s previous defense of segregation, a ban on interracial marriage and resistance to admitting women to VMI — all decisions overturned by the Supreme Court. “We are not going to make the mistakes our predecessors made,” Raphael told U.S. District Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen. Wright Allen did not ask a question of any of the five lawyers who addressed her during the nearly two hours of arguments but said she will rule quickly on an issue that all agreed will ultimately be settled by the Supreme Court. “You’ll be hearing from me soon,” she said, emphasizing the last word.

The case is being defended on behalf of two Virgina county clerks by the virulently anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom, who presumably did not mention their former co-worker who is now serving 40 years in prison for making child pornography with her daughter.

RELATED: Judge Allen, a former member of the Navy JAG Corps, was nominated to the federal bench by President Obama in 2010. Allen was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2011 after an endorsement floor speech by former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), who served as Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan.