Loving v. Virginia Summary
CRIJ 1310-01: Fundamentals of Criminal Law
February 14, 2014
Loving V. Virginia The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967 struck down the remaining interracial marriage bans in 16 states in the United States, ending race discrimination in marriage. The state of Virginia enacted laws making it a felony for a white person to intermarry with a black person or the reverse. The constitutionality of the statutes was called into question. Restricting the freedom to marry solely on the basis of race violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia held that the statutes served the legitimate state purpose of preserving the racial integrity of its citizens. The State then argued that because its miscegenation statutes punished both white and black participants in an interracial marriage equally, they cannot be said to discriminate based on race, therefore requiring that the statutes needed further review.
The statutes were clearly drawn upon race-based distinctions because the legality of certain behavior turned on the races of the people engaging in it. Equal Protection requires that classifications based on race be subject to intense scrutiny for this reason. The Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits classifications drawn by any statute that constitutes subjective and hateful discrimination. The fact that Virginia would focus on bans of interracial marriages involving whites is proof that the miscegenation statutes exist for no other purpose other than the independent goals of those based on racial discrimination. This case was essential in providing a firm foundation, that it is not possible, for a state law to be valid, which makes the criminality of an act depend upon the race of the actor.
February 14, 2014
Loving V. Virginia The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967 struck down the remaining interracial marriage bans in 16 states in the United States, ending race discrimination in marriage. The state of Virginia enacted laws making it a felony for a white person to intermarry with a black person or the reverse. The constitutionality of the statutes was called into question. Restricting the freedom to marry solely on the basis of race violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause. The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia held that the statutes served the legitimate state purpose of preserving the racial integrity of its citizens. The State then argued that because its miscegenation statutes punished both white and black participants in an interracial marriage equally, they cannot be said to discriminate based on race, therefore requiring that the statutes needed further review.
The statutes were clearly drawn upon race-based distinctions because the legality of certain behavior turned on the races of the people engaging in it. Equal Protection requires that classifications based on race be subject to intense scrutiny for this reason. The Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution prohibits classifications drawn by any statute that constitutes subjective and hateful discrimination. The fact that Virginia would focus on bans of interracial marriages involving whites is proof that the miscegenation statutes exist for no other purpose other than the independent goals of those based on racial discrimination. This case was essential in providing a firm foundation, that it is not possible, for a state law to be valid, which makes the criminality of an act depend upon the race of the actor.