On July 18, 2013, two Virginia residents filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the state of Virginia under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, asked the court for both declaratory and injunctive relief barring enforcement of Va. Code §§ 25-45.2 and 20-45.4 and Article I, § 15-A of the Virginia Constitution, alleging that these provisions are unconstitutional. Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that these Virginia laws and constitutional provisions denying individuals the opportunity to marry a person of their same sex violated the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
On August 9, 2013, the state moved to dismiss the case on grounds of sovereign immunity. On September 3, 2013 plaintiffs amended their complaint to add two additional plaintiffs and two additional defendants to the lawsuit. The newly added plaintiffs were Virginia residents married under the laws of California who sought recognition of their marriage under Virginia law. The additional defendants included the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the City or Norfolk and the State Registrar of Vital Records.
On January 23, 2014, the Office of the Attorney General submitted a formal change in position and relinquished her prior defense of Virginia's marriage laws. Prince William County Clerk was granted defendant intervenor status and continued to defend the marriage ban.
The plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction, and both sides sought summary judgment; a hearing was held on February 4. On February 13, 2014, the District Court (Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen) granted summary judgment and a preliminary injunction for the plaintiff and entered an order enjoining Virginia from continuing to enforce the marriage ban. The court held that these laws violate both Due Process and Equal Protection. However, Judge Allen stayed the injunction pending the final disposition of any appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
After the district court decision, a class action suit (also in this
Clearinghouse) intervened as a party in the Fourth Circuit to have its constitutional challenges decided as part of the Bostic litigation.
On July 28, 2014 the Fourth Circuit affirmed, agreeing with the district court that the same-sex marriage ban violated the Constitution. The majority opinion, by Hudge Henry Floyd, found that the ban impermissibly infringed upon Virginians' fundamental right to marry. A dissent by Judge Paul Niemeyer said that the state had a right to define marriage as relationships between one man and one woman. 760 F.3d 352.
The Supreme Court granted a stay to the Fourth Circuit's mandate on August 20, 2014 pending their decision on the defendants' petition for a writ of certiorari. However, the Supreme Court later denied writ on October 4, 2014 and the stay was lifted. Same sex couples were then allowed to wed in Virginia.
Back in district court the parties began litigation over attorneys fees, which continued for a few months with the parties eventually settling on the proper amount awarded to plaintiffs and intervening plaintiffs' counsel.
Carlyn Williams - 11/04/2013
Abigail DeHart - 02/01/2018
compress summary
