Perez+vs.+Sharp+(first+ruling+in+20th+century+to+rule+an+anti-miscegenation+law+unconstitutional)

__Carissa Hwu__ Perez vs. Sharp

In 1948 a court case took place in California, the first state which ruled its anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. A woman of Mexican descent (considered white at this time) named Andrea Perez applied for a marriage license to wed Sylvester Davis who was an African-American man. The County Clerk of Los Angeles named W.G. Sharp rejected the application due to California Civil Code Section 60 (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia).

At the end, by an extremely narrow margin, 4-3, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Andrea Perez. The reason for their ruling was that they believed the anti-miscegenation laws were a violation of Amendment XIV. Justice Jesse Carter, a judge in the California Supreme Court, stated that "If the right to marry is a fundamental right, then it must be conceded that an infringement of that right by means of a racial restriction is an unlawful infringement of one's liberty" (Huang and Huang).

In present day, this court case is used for same-sex marriage cases. For instance, for a re Marriage case in 2008, a chief justice stated that sexual orientation is just like ethnicity or gender. It must be a protected class from discrimination. Therefore, the government does not have the jurisdiction to ban same-sex marriage ("In re Marriage Cases").

*Miscegenation - marriage or even cohabitation of two people of different ethnicity

Bibliography

Huang, Alice, and Angela Huang. "Perez v. Sharp (1948)." The Road to Conquering Prejudice. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. .

"In re Marriage Cases." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p.: n.p., 2013. Wikipedia. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. .

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. "Perez v. Sharp." Wikipedia. 2013. Wikipedia. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. .