Essay On Loving Vs Virginia

Loving v. Virginia

Loving v. Virginia was a case involving an interracial couple, Mildred Loving and her white husband Richard Loving. They were sentenced to one year of imprisonment for marrying each other because it violated Virginia laws at the time. Just for marrying! The laws specified that they wanted to prevent racial contamination from happening. This case took place in 1967, when the Supreme Court came to a decision regarding the Loving v. Virginia case.

There were multiple parties involved in the Loving v. Virginia case. The first party consisted of the Loving’s (Mildred Loving and Richard Loving). The second party was the Virginia Supreme Court. Prior to the Virginia Supreme Court, a couple other courts were also involved. These

District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.” (Wikipedia)

The case is quite simple; they were charged under “Section 20-58 of the Virginia Code, which prohibited interracial couples from being married out of state and then returning to Virginia” (Wikipedia Criminal Proceedings 1). A law that was solely in place to prevent racial interbreeding. Along with this charge, they also received a charge for “Section 20-59 which classified miscegenation as a felony, punishable by a prison sentence of between one and five years.” Which also strictly prohibited people of different racial backgrounds to interbreed. Due to these exact laws, the Loving’s decided to flee to Washington, D.C. when Mildred Loving fell pregnant in order to evade Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924. This law made the marriage between blacks and whites a

Cohen and Hirschkop asked the judge to set aside their sentences, and he refused. Since the judge is part of the Virginia Supreme Court, it makes sense. He sides with the state. They then reappeared in front of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, that also refused. Again, since they went to the state of Virginia’s Supreme Court, the judge was in favor of Virginia. After these triumphs, the case finally made its way into the Unites States Supreme Court in 1967. This is where they have to make a difference. Cohen and Hirschkop argue “These are not health and welfare laws. These are slavery laws, pure and simple.” (History Loving v Virginia 4) These Virginia laws were found to be “in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment” (Cornell Law). The minimum rights every person should have in this country. These laws were against it. After some time, the Supreme Court ultimately came to a an overwhelmingly unanimous decision and deemed these laws unconstitutional. “Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the state.” (History) This ruling not only overturned the Loving’s criminal conviction but it also got rid of “existing laws against interracial marriage in 16 U.S. states including Virginia.” All of this came to be when Richard Loving and Mildred fell in love, a right everyone