# Supreme Court and Marriage **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-and-marriage/231109 "2004-02-25T15:20:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lindarielle13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3bc359/32.png) [@lindarielle13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindarielle13)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-and-marriage/231109/1 "2004-02-25T15:20:14Z")
I heard something about a Supreme Court ruling about interracial marriage that can be related to the current uproar about gay marriage. The case involved an interracial couple a long time ago. Apparently the case went all the way up to the Supreme Court in which the judge ruled that a person could not be deprived of “life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness” by the government. Does anyone know anything about this case? Please, this is not a debate about gay marriage, go to Great Debates if you want that. I am just looking for facts here. Thanks so much. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-and-marriage/231109/2 "2004-02-25T15:24:08Z")
The case is _Loving v. Virginia_, 388 U.S. 1 (1967): > **[FindLaw's United States Supreme Court case and opinions.](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/388/1.html)** > > FindLaw's searchable database of United States Supreme Court decisions since –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-and-marriage/231109/3 "2004-02-25T15:26:19Z")
[Loving v. Virginia, 338 U.S. 1 (1967).](http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/loving.html) It was an Equal Protection challenge to a miscegenation law in Virginia preventing blacks and whites from marrying. The State argued there was no violation, since blacks and whites were being treated equally. The Court disagreed; the people who were being treated unequal were those who wished to marry someone of another race. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-and-marriage/231109/4 "2004-02-25T15:27:47Z")
Darn you, **Cliffy**! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-and-marriage/231109/5 "2004-02-25T15:34:57Z")
> [@lindarielle13](#): > > I heard something about a Supreme Court ruling about interracial marriage that can be related to the current uproar about gay marriage. The case involved an interracial couple a long time ago. Apparently the case went all the way up to the Supreme Court in which the judge ruled that a person could not be deprived of “life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness” by the government. Does anyone know anything about this case? Please, this is not a debate about gay marriage, go to Great Debates if you want that. I am just looking for facts here. Thanks so much. The only other point I would make is that the opinon never uses the phrase “life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.” So while the Court ruled that a state may not forbid interracial marriage, it did not ground its finding on that magnificent bit of poetry. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-and-marriage/231109/6 "2004-02-25T16:52:33Z")
Not that anyone asked, but other salient SCOTUS marriage cases include [Turner v Safley](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=482&invol=78) and [Zablocki v Redhail](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=434&invol=374).