Loving+vs.+Virginia+court+case+(ruled+anti-miscegenation+laws+unconstitutional)

__Zina Dolan__ Loving v. Virginia

One of the most important civil rights rulings was made by the Supreme Court in 1967. Addressing the Loving v. Virginia case, the Supreme Court ruled that banning interracial marriages was unconstitutional ("Loving v. Virginia"). Richard Loving and wife, Mildred Jeter, lived in Caroline County, Virginia. Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a partially black and Native American woman, were arrested four months into their marriage, in 1958 ("Loving v. Virginia"). They had legally gotten married in Washington but then returned to Virginia, one of sixteen states that did not allow interracial marriages ("Loving v. Virginia (1967)"). In their county trial, the Lovings pleaded guilty. They were offered 1 year in jail or to leave the state of Virginia for 25 years ("Loving v. Virginia"). The Lovings moved to Washington, D.C. Five years later, they returned to Virginia to visit, and were arrested. Mildred Loving wrote the the attorney general at the time, Robert Kennedy, asking for help. Kennedy referred them to the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union ("Loving v. Virginia: The Case"). The ACLU took the case to the Virginia state court, arguing that the state of Virginia violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Ultimately, this case got to the Supreme Court ("Loving v. Virginia"). On June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the charges against the Lovings and ruled that anti-miscegenation laws violate the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. With the ruling, Chief Justice Earl Warren stated

Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival.... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling, all states gradually got rid of their anti-miscegenation laws and the number of interracial marriages began to rise. In addition, advocates of same-sex marriage use the Loving v. Virginia decision to aid their cause ("Loving v. Virginia").

Bibliography

"Loving v. Virginia." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 5 Sept. 2013. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. .

"Loving v. Virginia (1967)." Bill of Rights Institute. N.p., 2010. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. .

"Loving v. Virginia: The Case over Interracial Marriage." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. .