Is the Virginia state constitution… unconstitutional?
Oh, my, it didn’t take long for Virginia’s new attorney general to spark a constitutional crisis. Bearing Drift has published the draft of a resolution, under consideration by two unnamed General Assembly delegates, to impeach Mark Herring for refusing to defend a provision of the state constitution. Read the resolution here.
Money quote: “The nature of General Herring’s neglect of duty is not only unprecedented, but is a danger to all Virginians because without adherence to the paramount law that governs the government of Virginia, all rights of Virginians are at the mercy of government unconstrained by the rule of law.”
Here is Herring’s explanation of why he changed Virginia’s legal position on Bostic v. Rainey, which asks federal courts to overturn the recent amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage. Stated Herring:
“I swore an oath to both the United States Constitution and the Virginia Constitution. After thorough legal review, I have now concluded that Virginia’s ban on marriage between same sex couples violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution on two grounds: marriage is a fundamental right being denied to some Virginians, and the ban unlawfully discriminates on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender.”
— JAB
