Loving v Virginia: Interracial Marriage
Richard, a white man, and Mildred Loving, a black woman, were married in 1958 in Washington D.C. since their home state of Virginia still upheld the anti-miscegenation law which stated that interracial marriages were illegal. After being married they moved back and resided in Caroline County where eventually they we convicted for violating Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law. They were each sentenced one year in jail, but promised the sentence would be suspended if they agreed to leave the state and not return for 25 years. After being forced to move, they returned to Washington D.C. and filed a suit in the year of 1963. Finally, in 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court of Appeals ruled the law unconstitutional forcing the 16 other states also containing these laws in their books to remove them. The Lovings case helped to aid in the final racial law preventing people of a certain race to do things that people of another race can actually do. They helped to close many racial laws in the U.S. and did indeed make the world a better place for several others.
The Loving case may even open up new doors and establish the same sex marriages nation wide. Some who oppose this argument say that the establishment clause is specified for marriage between a man and a woman and not for people of the same gender. All in all, this case has helped America establish freedom beyond the states power and may even aid in new cases in the future.
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