Virginia Vs Loving

Gaspar Santiago

Virginia v. Loving

Issue

The case of VA v. Loving was one about interracial marriage, in which Mildred Jeter, of African-American decent, married Richard Loving, of Caucasian decent and also her childhood sweetheart. This went against the state of Virginia’s “miscegenation” law which banned such marriages between the two races.

Ruling

Initially, the couple which married in Washington D.C., was charged in Virginia with unlawful cohabitation. The judge at the time, Leon M. Bazile, made the judgment against the marriage as unlawful claiming using “God” and stating that “god created the races…. and he placed them on separate continents…. the fact that he separated the races shows he did not intend for the races to mix.” The Loving couple was sentenced to a year in prison, or suspension of imprisonment if the couple agreed to leave the state of Virginia for 25 years.

Analysis

        What makes this case and its ruling unconstitutional is that it violates the central meaning of the Equal Protection Clause as well as due process clauses of the 14th amendment. The Equal Protection Clause requires that classifications based on race be subject to the “most rigid scrutiny”. The legal consequences of an individuals actions should not be based on the race of the person partaking in said actions. Simply put, there should be no “white crime”/”black crime”.

Conclusion

        On June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Virginia States ruling and ruled in favor of the Loving’s that Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statute indeed violated the 14th amendment as well as the Equal Protection Clause. Virginia’s law was declared in fact racist and was put into place to preserve white supremacy.