Essay on Loving v. Virginia (388 U.S. 1) - 2059 Words

On July 11, 1958 a couple of hours after midnight, Richard Loving a white man and Mildred Loving an African American woman were awakened to the presence of three officers in their bedroom. One of the three officers demanded from Richard to identify the woman next to him. Mildred, full of fear, told the officers that she was his wife, while Richard pointed to the marriage license on the wall. The couple was then charged and later found guilty in violation of the states anti-miscegenation statute. Mr. and Mrs. Loving were residents of the small town of Central point, Virginia. They were family friends who had dated each other since he was seventeen and she a teenager. When they learned that marriage was illegal for them in Virginia, they†¦show more content†¦to the same degree. Thus, ... because its miscegenation statutes punish equally both the white and the Negro participants in an interracial marriage, these statutes, ... do not constitute an invidious discrimination based upon race. The court also referred to its 1955 decision in â€Å"Naim v. Naim† as stating the reasons supporting the validity of the anti-miscegenation laws. In Naim, the state court concluded that the States legitimate purposes were quot;to preserve the racial integrity of its citizens,quot; and to prevent quot;the corruption of blood,quot; quot;a mongrel breed of citizens,quot; and quot;the obliteration of racial pride,quot; obviously an endorsement of the doctrine of White Supremacy. The court also reasoned that marriage has traditionally been subject to state regulation without federal intervention, and consequently, the regulation of marriage should be left to exclusive state control by the Tenth Amendment. The statements related to the courts attempt to quot;preserve the racial integrity of its citizensquot; would have been ludicrous any place but was especially laughable in Caroline County, and in the Lovings hometown of Central Point, which had been an epicenter of race mixing for at least 200 years. White families and their fair-skinned black relatives lived so close together that they bumpedShow MoreRelatedThe Debate Over The Legalization Of Same Sex Marriage1264 Words   |  6 Pageshave ruled on this issue, some in favor and some opposed, the legal dispute of whether the decision should be left up to the state democratic process will finally be settled. Through looking at previous key rulings in the cases Zablocki v. Redhail and Loving v. Virginia, the editorial argued in favor of same-sex marriage based on the precedence that the Supreme Court has determined marriage as a fundamental right that should be uniform across the country and equally available for every individual. 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In a narrow vote of 5-4, the majority ruled that the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee the right to marry for same-sex couples as one of the Constitution’s fundamental libertiesRead MoreSame-Sex Marriage Should be Legal Essay1535 Words   |  7 Pagescrossed state borders to be wed in Washington, D.C.. Virginia natives, Richard and Mildred Loving fled their home state to seek a marriage license in a D.C. courthouse due to Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, which criminalized any marriage between a white and a non-white. Richard Loving was white. Mildred was of mixed race. Five weeks after returning home, they were arrested in their own bedroom by raiding policemen and put on trial. 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