Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967)

CASE: Man and woman challenge conviction for violating a statute against interracial marriage.

FACTS: Virginia residents Mildred Jeter, who is black, and Richard Loving, who is white, were married in the District of Columbia pursuant to its laws. They moved back to Virginia and, in 1958, were indicted for violating Virginia's ban on interracial marriages. They pleaded guilty and were sentenced to one year in jail. After their convictions, the Lovings moved to the District of Columbia and, in 1963, filed a motion to vacate their sentences a repugnant to the Fourteenth Amendment. The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld the constitutional validity of the laws and affirmed the convictions. They appealed to the Supreme Court.

LOVINGS ARGUE: The law against interracial marriages denies them equal protection of the law.

STATE ARGUES: The law is necessary to the acomplishment of the permissible (compelling) state interests of "preserving the racial integrity of its citizens" and to prevent "the corruption of blood," "a mongrel breed of citizens," and "the obliteration of racial pride." Also, the state argued that regulation of marriage was traditionally a state function except from federal legislation or control and that the regulation of marriage should be left to exclusive state control under the Tenth Amendment.

HOLDING: Law criminalizing marriages between white and non-white individuals deprived black woman and white man who were married of liberty without due process of law and equal protection under the law in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

RATIONALE:

• There is no legitimate purpose for the law
• Fact that the law only prohibits marriages between whites and non-whites demonstrates that the law constitutes White Supremacy.
• In short, this matter can be settled as a secular contract matter and need not approach the territory of religious dogma.
• The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.
• Under the Fourteenth Amendment, the freedom to marry, or not to marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

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