Virginia AG Not Defending Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Newly-elected Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring plans to notify a federal court in Norfolk that his office will no longer defend Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban.

His action is sure to create controversy as it “will mark a stunning reversal in the state’s legal position on same-sex marriage and is a result of November elections in which Democrats swept the state’s top offices.”  Herring believes the ban is unconstitutional and cites Loving v. Virginia as upholding a fundamental right to marriage.

See Debra Cassens Weiss, Virginia Attorney General Won’t Defend State Ban on Same-Sex Marriage, ABA Journal, Jan. 23, 2014.