Loving v Virginia
Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving were a couple in Virginia that were raised in an environment where interracial interaction was normalized. They got married and then went to Virginia, where there were anti-miscegenation (anti-interracial marriage) laws. They were sentenced to jail time, which was when they appealed to the Supreme Court. The Lovings used the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses to justify that their marriage was legal.
Breakdown Verdict.
A unanimous decision for Loving determined that “distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry [is] odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.” Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion, and he expanded upon the fact that the Constitution allows actions such as intermarriage to be an individual matter and not decided by the state legislature.
Result Going Forward.
Southern states continued to enforce anti-miscegenation laws, but interracial marriage held a steady increase in the nation after Loving v Virginia. The last state to adopt the ruling was Alabama in 2000. It was another step in removing the race barrier in America, which can be seen by the unanimous verdict. The extent of free marriage grew upon this case, with other issues such as same-sex marriage arising over time.
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