VIRGINIA: Attorney General Mark Herring Says Same-Sex Marriages To Begin Today

VIRGINIA: House Approves Resolution To Defend Marriage Ban With Own Lawyers

The Virginia House of Delegates yesterday approved a resolution co-sponsored by loony tunes Rep. Bob Marshall that authorizes the chamber to defend the state's same-sex marriage ban with its own lawyers. Attorney General Mark Herring has refused to the defend the ban and Virginia is among the states due to have its ban reviewed by the Supreme Court at the end of the month.

HR 566 started as a move to allow the branch to hire a lawyer to “represent the House of Delegates to halt any attempt by the Governor to expand the Medicaid program without the explicit approval of the General Assembly.” But in language added in a reprinting of the bill today, a clause was added which would allow the republican dominated house to hire private council to defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Specifically, it would allow the Speaker of the House, William J. Howell R-53 to hire counsel to represent the legislative body in state courts and gain the power to remove the AG for his “improper role in challenging Virginia’s marriage laws.” The employed counsel would then be able to “represent the position of the Commonwealth in pending litigation involving the challenge to the constitutionality of Virginia’s marriage laws”

The histrionic resolution contains 19 "whereas" citations.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG:  In February, Marshall filed an amendment that would grant Virginia state legislators the right to claiming standing in marriage lawsuits. In September 2013, Marshall petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn Virginia's legalization of sodomy. In May 2012, Marshall attempted to block the appointment of an openly gay state judge because the nominee has "an illegal husband." In 2011 Del. Bob Marshall claimed it is a felony for a state office to fly the rainbow flag. Marshall has also called on Virginia to issue its own currency, and has claimed that God punishes women who have abortions by giving them deformed children. After the DADT repeal bill passed, Marshall tried to have gays banned from the Virginia National Guard.

VIRGINIA: Alliance Defending Freedom Asks SCOTUS To Hear Bostic Case

Acting on behalf of Prince William County Clerk Michele McQuigg, today the Alliance Defending Freedom petitioned SCOTUS to hear their appeal of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. Today's petitions follow those from AFER and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring. The full request is here. (Via Equality Case Files)

AFER To SCOTUS: Hear Our Virginia Case

The American Foundation for Equal Rights today filed a SCOTUS brief which demands that the Court hear their Virginia marriage equality suit.

“Forty-seven years ago, Mildred and Richard Loving passionately argued that the Supreme Court must end the unjust laws that dare to tell us who we can and cannot love,” said Plaintiffs’ lead co-counsel Ted Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.  “Today, almost half a century later, it is time thousands of gay and lesbian couples across America are extended that same promise of equality and freedom that the Supreme Court granted to the Lovings. Our plaintiffs have already fought for, in two separate courts, a constitutional promise they have been denied. Now, the Supreme Court must take up the Bostic case, answer once and for all the surpassingly important constitutional question of marriage equality, and rule decisively in favor of the fundamental right to marry for every same-sex couple.” Bostic was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in July 2013 on behalf of two loving Virginia couples—Tim Bostic and Tony London of Norfolk, and Carol Schall and Mary Townley of Richmond—to challenge the constitutionality of Virginia’s marriage laws on the grounds that they violate the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The same demand has already been filed by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring and by the Alliance Defending Freedom, acting on behalf of the Norfolk County Clerk.

VIRGINIA: AG Mark Herring Ask SCOTUS To Continue Stay On Same-Sex Marriages

Via the Washington Post:

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) told the Supreme Court on Monday that it should put on hold a lower court’s order that same-sex couples in the state be allowed to marry, beginning this week. Herring said that he agrees with the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that struck Virginia’s ban as unconstitutional, but that it is better for the Supreme Court to delay the marriages and immediately accept the case for review. “Although it is painful to keep Virginia’s same-sex couples and their children waiting any longer to enjoy the rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment, the rule of law requires that this court be afforded the time needed to settle the question,” Herring wrote in a filing to the court. The groups representing those challenging the ban said the court should not step in to stop the marriages, which would commence Thursday without Supreme Court intervention.

AFER, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU, who represent the plaintiffs, have not yet responded to Herring's move. Yesterday all three issued briefs opposing any continuance of the stay.

VIRGINIA: AG Asks SCOTUS To Review Fourth Circuit Court's Marriage Ruling

As he announced he would earlier this week, this afternoon Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring formally filed his request that the US Supreme Court review the overturn of his state's same-sex marriage ban by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed:

What distinguishes Herring’s filing, representing Virginia State Registrar of Vital Records Janet Rainey, is that his is the first request to the Supreme Court by a party that backs the position of same-sex couples that the ban is unconstitutional. Of the reason for hearing the claim, Herring’s filing, led by Virginia Solicitor General Stuart Raphael, argues that the Supreme Court should accept certiorari in the case because “[t]he question presented is vital to a large population of same-sex couples, to their children, and to their fellow Americans who believe that discriminating against gay people is both unfair and unconstitutional. They may fairly call this ‘the defining civil rights issue of our time.’”

As to why the Supreme Court should hear the case challenging the Virginia ban, specifically, the brief states, “Virginia’s same-sex-marriage ban is one of the most stringent in the country. It goes further than [California’s] Proposition 8 by barring and refusing to recognize civil unions and by preventing same-sex couples from adopting children. It also goes further than Utah’s ban, which at least preserves contractual rights exercised independently of the same-sex-marriage restriction. Virginia law voids ‘any contractual rights created by’ same- sex marriages entered into in another State.”

Last week the Alliance Defending Freedom filed notice with the Fourth Circuit that they will appeal to SCOTUS on behalf of a Virginia county clerk. That appeal has not yet been filed. The ADF has already filed their appeal to SCOTUS on behalf of an Oklahoma county clerk.

Read Herring's full filing.

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.

Tweet Of The Day - VA AG Mark Herring

Bob Marshall: All Charities Will Lose Tax Exempt Status Over Same-Sex Marriage

"Congress does not grant tax-exempt status to organizations that are racially discriminatory such as the Klan.  Every church and every Catholic or Protestant hospital will lose its tax (exempt) status. There is no restricting once it happens. This has effects that I can’t even contemplate at this time. If people simply think that the so-called same-sex marriage is just a circumstance of whether two people are cohabiting in the same residence, they are profoundly mistaken. If the courts decide that the 14th Amendment requires same-sex marriage, no church in Virginia will keep its status (and) every charity that’s feeding the poor, clothing the poor, funding medical care, repairing houses — all that will be gone." - Crackpot Virginia Del. Bob Marshall, speaking yesterday at a press conference in support of his campaign to impeach Attorney General Mark Herring. On June 10th Marshall will compete in the GOP primary for the US House. (Tipped by JMG reader Matthew)

VIRGINIA: GOP Leadership Rejects Effort To Impeach Attorney General Mark Herring

Anti-gay Virginia state Del. Bob Marshall has been rebuffed by his own party in his campaign to impeach Attorney General Mark Herring for refusing to defend his state's marriage ban.

House Speaker Bill Howell (R) immediately denied Marshall’s resolution when it was first submitted and released a short statements saying he “does not believe impeachment is an appropriate or practical recourse at the moment.” Marshall then blamed his own party’s higher-ups for not challenging the AG’s actions. “The failure of the republican leadership to address his first violation of the constitution has led to more [violations].” Marshall had hoped the impeachment inquiry would have “the other delegates look and see if Mark Herring is following the procedures proscribed of him in the Virginia constitution.” Though he admits he “didn’t calculate” the possibility of his resolution being turned down.

RELATED: Marshall's bid for the US House has been endorsed by Phyllis Schlafly. Virginia's primary is June 10th.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG: In January Marshall filed an amendment that would grant Virginia state legislators the right to claiming standing in marriage lawsuits. In September 2013, Marshall petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn Virginia's legalization of sodomy. In May 2012, Marshall attempted to block the appointment of an openly gay state judge because the nominee has "an illegal husband." In 2011 Del. Bob Marshall claimed it is a felony for a state office to fly the rainbow flag. Marshall has also called on Virginia to issue its own currency, and has claimed that God punishes women who have abortions by giving them deformed children. After the DADT repeal bill passed, Marshall tried to have gays banned from the Virginia National Guard.

Virginia AG Mark Herring: Today's Anti-Gay Arguments Were "Wholly Unpersuasive"

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring gave a great speech at the press conference held by the plaintiffs and their legal teams after today's oral arguments in Virginia's marriage equality case before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Herring vows to "work every day as a modern attorney general." The audio doesn't kick in for a few seconds.

VIRGINIA: AG Mark Herring Files Brief In Support Of Gay Marriage Plaintiffs

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring today filed a brief with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of AFER's marriage equality lawsuit. Herring's brief argues that heightened scrutiny is applicable in the suit. Money quote below:

Virginia’s same-sex-marriage ban violates the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Because the ban substantially interferes with the right to marry, it is subject to strict scrutiny. The ban also discriminates on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, triggering at least heightened scrutiny. All of the considerations apply here for the judiciary to be suspicious of laws that discriminate against gay people. And the Clerks’ claim that the ban treats men and women equally is like saying that interracial-marriage bans treat blacks and white equally, an argument rejected by the Supreme Court.

Herring's refusal to defend Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage was immediately met with calls for his removal by anti-gay and Christian groups. Dig into the above-linked brief and pull out your favorite parts for fellow readers. (Via Equality Case Files)

VA County Clerk & State Registrar Appeal Overturn Of Marriage Ban To Fourth Circuit

Via the Virginian-Pilot:

As expected, a Norfolk federal judge’s decision declaring Virginia’s gay-marriage ban unconstitutional was appealed today. An appeal on behalf of Norfolk Circuit Court Clerk George Schaefer, one of the defendants, was filed this afternoon shortly after U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen entered her final order in the case. Schaefer is represented by David Oakley, a Virginia Beach attorney. A few minutes later, Virginia Solicitor General Stuart Raphael filed an appeal on behalf of another defendant, State Registrar of Vital Records Janet Rainey. That means arguments over Virginia’s constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage, the first in the Southeast to be overthrown in court, will be heard by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Depending on the timing, the case could ultimately result in a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court resolving the gay-marriage issue for the nation.

Also filing a motion today is Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, who demands that the Fourth Circuit expedite the appeal process. Via press release from AFER:

On Monday, February 24, 2014, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring and Clerk of Court for Norfolk Circuit Court George E. Schaefer, III filed notices of appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Bostic v. Rainey, the legal challenge to Virginia's laws prohibiting gay and lesbian couples from marrying. Should the Fourth Circuit uphold the District Court’s decision, similar laws throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia may also be found unconstitutional. Adam Umhoefer, executive director of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, issued the following statement: "The District Court ruled firmly and decisively in favor of gay and lesbian Virginians by striking down the Commonwealth's discriminatory laws as wholly unconstitutional and exceptionally harmful. Loving gay and lesbian couples and their families should not have to live one more day as second-class citizens under unjust laws. We urge the Fourth Circuit to expedite the appeal process so that soon all Virginians — and hopefully all Americans — will have the freedom to marry the person they love and their rights fully realized.”

Brian Brown Has The Virginia Sadz

"This is another example of an Obama-appointed judge twisting the constitution and the rule of law to impose her own views of marriage in defiance of the people of Virginia. There is no right to same-sex 'marriage' in the United States constitution. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that states have the preeminent duty of defining marriage. The people of Virginia did just that in voting overwhelmingly to affirm marriage as the union of one man and woman. That decision should be respected by federal judges and we hope that the U.S. Supreme Court ends up reversing this terrible decision. This case also leaves a particular stench because of the unconscionable decision of Attorney General Mark Herring to not only abandon his sworn duty to defend the laws of the state, but to actually join the case against the very people he is duty-bound to represent." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, who has had a whole lotta sadz this month. Pity.

BREAKING: Judge Strikes Down Virginia's Ban On Gay Marriage, Ruling STAYED

From AFER's website:

The Federal District Court ruled that Virginia’s marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution. It said that loving couples like our plaintiffs, Tim Bostic & Tony London and Carol Schall & Mary Townley are entitled to the same basic rights and protections as every other American. This is a monumental victory—for Virginia and our country—and the first of its kind for a state in the South. While the decision will not go into effect immediately—it has been stayed pending appeal—this is a great cause for celebration.

UPDATE: The judge's 41-page ruling begins with a quote from Mildred Loving.

UPDATE II: Fugelsang nails it. Heh.

Quote Of The Day - VA Del. Bob Marshall

"If he [Virginia AG Mark Herring] can't tell the difference between gender and race, he has a deficient intellect. And if the state and federal judiciary - as such - if they can't tell the front of the human body from the back, nor distinguish male from female, but claim to have clairvoyant powers that anybody that disagrees with them is animated by hate - these people shouldn't be judging a spelling bee, much less sitting in judgment over the must fundamental institution of humankind. This is not simply something religious, although I'll tell you what - nothing is wrong about religious people having a say in the public policies of this United States. Who is out there working to defend civil rights? Ministers of all denominations! Were they acting unconstitutionally or acting immoral? No, I don't think so. You can't tell me sodomy is some of a predicate for marriage." - Virginia Del. Bob Marshall, speaking to local talk radio. (Tipped by JMG reader Blair)

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG:  Last week Marshall filed an amendment that would grant Virginia state legislators the right to claiming standing in marriage lawsuits. In September 2013, Marshall petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn Virginia's legalization of sodomy. In May 2012, Marshall attempted to block the appointment of an openly gay state judge because the nominee has "an illegal husband." In 2011 Del. Bob Marshall claimed it is a felony for a state office to fly the rainbow flag. Marshall has also called on Virginia to issue its own currency, and has claimed that God punishes women who have abortions by giving them deformed children. After the DADT repeal bill passed, Marshall tried to have gays banned from the Virginia National Guard. 

VIRGINIA: Ministers Call Press Conference To Denounce Marriage Equality Suit

(Via Good As You)

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. 

Concerned Women Are Concernstipated About Virginia AG Mark Herring

Quote Of The Day - Terry McAuliffe

"I share your view that the effective administration of our legal system requires zealous advocacy on all matters before the courts. In the present case, Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban is being vigorously and appropriately defended by the Clerk of Court for the City of Norfolk and the Clerk of Court for Prince William County. Accordingly, I respectfully decline to appoint special counsel in this matter." - Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, in a response to crackpot state Del. Bob Marshall, who sent him a letter also signed by other state GOP legislators. Virginia AG Mark Herring has joined the lawsuit brought by AFER and opening arguments begin on Thursday.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG:  In September, Marshall petitioned the US Supreme Court to overturn Virginia's legalization of sodomy. In 2011 Del. Bob Marshall claimed it is a felony for a state office to fly the rainbow flag. Marshall has also called on Virginia to issue its own currency, and has claimed that God punishes women who have abortions by giving them deformed children. After the DADT repeal bill passed, Marshall tried to have gays banned from the Virginia National Guard.  More recently, Marshall attempted to block the appointment of an openly gay state judge because the nominee has "an illegal husband."

NOTE: The first draft of this post wrongly attributed the quote above to Herring. My apologies for switching the names.