Arenda Lauretta Wright Allen (born December 9, 1960) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton ...

. She formerly worked as an Assistant United States Attorney and a Federal Public Defender in Norfolk, Virginia.

Early life and education

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Wright Allen graduated from

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (Kutztown University or KU) is a public university in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Highe ...

(then called Kutztown State College) with her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in 1982 and later from

North Carolina Central University School of Law The North Carolina Central University School of Law (also known as NCCU School of Law or NCCU Law) is the law school associated with North Carolina Central University. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) and the ...

with a Juris Doctor in 1985. In May 2013, Wright Allen was awarded an honorary doctorate from

Career

Wright Allen started her legal career as a

Judge Advocate General's Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called jud ...

officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as an active duty officer between 1985 and 1990 and in the

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...

between 1992 and 2005. She was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia from 2001 to 2005. Wright Allen joined the Federal Public Defender's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia in 2005, where she had served as a Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender until becoming a federal judge in 2011.

Federal judicial service

On the recommendation of Senators

Jim Webb James Henry Webb Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is an American politician and author. He has served as a United States senator from Virginia, Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Counsel for the United States ...

and Mark R. Warner, Wright Allen was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

on December 1, 2010, to a seat vacated Jerome B. Friedman, who assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...

on November 30, 2010. The United States Senate confirmed Wright Allen on May 11, 2011, by a 96–0 vote. She received her judicial commission the following day.

Overturning Virginia's same-sex marriage ban

On February 13, 2014, Allen overturned Virginia's statutory

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

ban, finding the ban unconstitutional. In her ruling, Allen inadvertently attributed the principle that "all men are created equal" to the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

, rather than the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

– an error which she corrected in a subsequent amended ruling.

Personal life

Allen is married to

Delroy Allen Delroy Allen (born 6 October 1958 Montego Bay, Jamaica) is a retired Jamaican-American soccer goalkeeper who played professionally in the North American Soccer League, American Soccer League and United Soccer League. Early life Allen attend ...

, a retired

Jamaican-American Jamaican Americans are an ethnic group of Caribbean Americans who have full or partial Jamaican ancestry. The largest proportions of Jamaican Americans live in South Florida and New York City, both of which have been home to large Jamaican commu ...

soccer player.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright Allen, Arenda 1960 births Living people 20th-century African-American lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges 21st-century African-American lawyers African-American female military personnel African-American judges African-American United States Navy personnel American women lawyers Assistant United States Attorneys Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Kutztown University of Pennsylvania alumni North Carolina Central University alumni Lawyers from Philadelphia People from Norfolk, Virginia Public defenders United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama Female United States Navy officers United States Navy reservists