Class Action Challenge To Virginia's Same-Sex Marriage Ban Stayed As Plaintiffs Intervene In Appeal of Parallel Case

In Harris v. Rainey, (WD VA, March 31, 2014), Virginia federal district judge has cut through the procedural complexity of competing challenges to Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage by staying proceedings in one case while a separate challenge works its way through the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.  In February, a different Virginia federal district court in Bostic v. Rainey issued a preliminary injunction striking down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage, but stayed the injunction pending appeal. (See prior posting.) Just before the court handed down its decision in Bostic, Virginia's attorney general filed a Notice of Change of Legal Position with the court indicating that he will not defend the constitutionality of Virginia's ban. This However left two clerks of court who were also defendants to carry the case forward. (Attorney General's FAQ page on the case.) However in the Harris case-- a class action on behalf of 14,000 same sex couples filed by the ACLU (links to pleadings)-- no defendant was willing to defend the state's ban. Meanwhile the plaintiffs in Harris petitioned the 4th Circuit for, and on March 14 were granted, the right to intervene as a plaintiffs in the Bostic appeal (Legal Times), despite opposition to their intervening by the original lawyers of plaintiffs in Bostic. They preferred that the Harris plaintiffs merely file an amicus brief. (National Law Journal.) [Thanks to How Appealing for the lead.]