WDVa Judge Certifies Class Action in Same Sex Marriage Case

Judge Michael Urbanski has certified as a class action a lawsuit challenging Virginia's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.  This WDVa lawsuit, filed by the ACLU on behalf of two Shenandoah Valley couples, is proceeding parallel with a similar action in the EDVa (Norfolk).  Given the speed of the "rocket docket," the EDVa case is expected to be decided before the WDVa action, although both are destined for review by the Fourth Circuit.

Newly sworn-in Attorney General Mark Herring made news last week by deciding not to defend the ban because he wanted to put Virginia "on the right side of history."  Herring specifically referenced Virginia's sordid history opposing school desegregation, opposing interracial marriage, and insiting upon single-sex education at Virginia Military Institute.

As a native Virginian, I remember some of these battles and live with the history of others.  For example, my daughter goes to one of the public schools that Governor Lindsay Almond decided to close in 1958 instead of obeying federal Judge John Paul's order to desegregate Lane High School and Venable Elementary in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Massive resistance is a dark stain on Virginia's proud history.  Regardless of how the same-sex marriage cases are resolved, I am confident that we will not have the same state political resistance to federal court rulings.

21 People Apply For Magistrate Judge Position

As noted earlier this week, Magistrate Judge Crigler is going to step down from the bench at the end of this month, and the Western District of Virginia has solicited applications to find a replacement.  Virginia Lawyers Weekly reports that twenty-one attorneys have applied for the job.  A 10-member advisory panel has been appointed and will review the applications in the next 45 to 60 days.  The advisory panel will recommend the five most qualified candidates.  According to Chief Judge Glen Conrad, the district judges will interview those five candidates and select one to serve the eight year term for the federal court.  Other judges will cover Judge Crigler's workload until a new magistrate judge is selected.  Although Judge Crigler's offices were in Charlottesville, the new magistrate judge will be based in Harrisonburg.

Welcome to the WDVa Law Blog









  This blog will focus on noteworthy civil cases, news and administrative procedure in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. I have a special affinity for this part of the Commonwealth and its federal court. I grew up in Bedford County, just outside Lynchburg, Virginia -- the center of the seven divisions in the WDVa. After law school, I served as a law clerk for then Chief Judge Samuel G. Wilson in Roanoke, Virginia. After a brief hiatus in North Carolina, I returned to the Commonwealth and have been practicing law in Charlottesville, Virginia, home of my alma mater, the University of Virginia. Although not as famous as the Eastern District of Virginia's "rocket docket," I find the Western District to be appropriately expeditious in moving cases forward, courteous towards lawyers, thoughtful in their deliberations and fair to all litigants. I am looking forward to writing more about significant cases and developments within the Western District of Virginia.