On the recommendation of Senators Jim Webb and Mark R. Warner, Wright Allen was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by President Barack Obama on December 1, 2010, to a seat vacated Jerome B. Friedman, who assumed senior status on November 30, 2010.[1] The United States Senate confirmed Wright Allen on May 11, 2011, by a 96–0 vote.[4] She received her judicial commission the following day.[1]
Overturning Virginia's same-sex marriage ban
On February 13, 2014, Allen overturned Virginia's statutory same-sex marriage ban, finding the ban unconstitutional.[5] In her ruling, Allen inadvertently attributed the principle that "all men are created equal" to the U.S. Constitution, rather than the Declaration of Independence – an error which she corrected in a subsequent amended ruling.[6]