Summary Of The Loving V. Virginia Case Brief

US Supreme Court Legal Brief

Case Name: Loving vs Virginia: Interracial Marriage

Case number: 399 US 1

Facts of the case

In the stage of Virginia, there was an interracial couple that had just got married. Richard Loving was white and Mildred Loving was African American. They lived in Central Point Virginia. In the middle of night one day, three officers threw open the unlocked door, went to their bedroom, and arrested the couple. (Pg.5, Karen Alonso) They were told that they had violated the state law which was that it was a crime for a white person to marry a person of color. That if they were to get married, it wouldn’t be an official marriage. The case was heard in 1967. They were brought to the county jail for 5 days, released on bail,

The Loving family argued that they should have the right to love each other just as any other couple does, whether they are interracial or not. They also argued that the state of Virginia was violating the 14th Amendment by charging them with this crime. The state of Virginia argued that since God created the two races to be separate, they should stay separate and not mix. That the two races should not be able to marry. In this case, the Loving family heavily disagreed and was offended by that very statement. They didn’t understand why the state had such a big problem with their decision, if the two decided to be together and it was their own choice and they should have the right to do so. They believe that no person should be treated the way they were treated for choosing one another to

Despite the Supreme Court's decision, anti-miscegenation laws remained on the books in several states, although the decision had made them unenforceable. Local judges in Alabama continued to enforce that state's anti-miscegenation statute until the Nixon administration obtained a ruling from a U.S. District Court in United States v. Britain in 1970.] In 2000, Alabama became the last state to adapt its laws to the Supreme Court's decision, when 60% of voters endorsed a that removed anti-miscegenation language from the state constitution.After Loving v. Virginia, the number of interracial marriages continued to increase across the United States] and in the South. In Georgia, for instance, the number of interracial marriages increased from 21 in 1967 to 115 in 1970. At the national level, 0.4% of marriages were interracial in 1960, 2.0% in 1980, 12% in 2013,[ and 16% in 2015, almost 50 years after