VIRGINIA: State AG Mark Herring To Ask SCOTUS To Review Fourth Circuit Ruling

Last week the Alliance Defending Freedom announced that they will file an appeal with the US Supreme Court over the Fourth Circuit Court's overturn of Virginia's same-sex marriage ban. Their appeal will be filed on behalf of the Prince William County clerk. Today Democratic Virginia state Attorney General Mark Herring announced that he will also ask SCOTUS to review the Fourth Circuit's decision.

Herring’s office said it planned to make its filing seeking a Supreme Court review on Friday. “I believe the district and appeals courts ruled correctly in striking down Virginia’s discriminatory marriage ban, but it has long been clear that the Supreme Court will likely have the final word. I want that decision to come as soon as possible and I want the voices of Virginians to be heard,” Herring said in a statement. On Monday, the plaintiffs in the case challenging Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban said they wanted a federal appeals court to allow gay marriages to occur before the U.S. Supreme Court can rule on the issue. “The right to marry is fundamental, and thus Virginia’s marriage prohibition irreparably harms plaintiffs-appellees — and all gay men and lesbians in the commonwealth — each day that it remains in force,” attorneys for two gay couples challenging the law wrote in a Monday court filing.

Read Herring's full press release. 

RELATED: The Virginia case was first filed in July 2013 and was joined by AFER attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies in late September. In March of this year, the Fourth Circuit Court allowed attorneys from Lambda Legal and the ACLU, who had filed a separate marriage suit in Virginia, to join the AFER case. That decision came over AFER's objections. It's possible that all three groups will appear before the Supreme Court on behalf of the plaintiffs.