Thanks to Pam P.
Ed note: My wife and I were married in Pennsylvania in 1964. This would have been illegal in Virginia at that time. The Loving v. Virginia case of went to the Supreme Court in 1967, giving citizens the right to an interracial marriage. There’s an excellent movie about this on Netflix simply titled Loving. This article below discusses this constitutional right and others that may be challenged in the future.
By Jesse J. Holland, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
In a concurring opinion to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” The rulings Thomas referred to guarantee the right to contraception, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriages.
Justice Clarence Thomas, a Black man, is married to Ginni Thomas, who’s white.
But those substantive due process precedents also include Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision that says that laws banning interracial marriage violate the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And Justice Clarence Thomas, a Black man, is married to Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, who is white.
Unlike Thomas, the other justices, both conservative and liberal, contended with what Friday’s decision could mean for cases that include Loving, and seven mentioned Loving by name.
But the only African American on the Supreme Court, and the only Supreme Court justice in an interracial marriage, doesn’t mention Loving at all. Though Thomas argues that all those other precedents should be reconsidered, he implies by his silence that the one that affects him personally is sacrosanct.https://midgard.pressekompass.net/compasses/msnbc_opinion/the-current-supreme-court-reaches-its-op?embed=embed&paywall=anonymous&curl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.msnbc.com%2Fopinion%2Fmsnbc-opinion%2Fclarence-thomas-s-roe-v-wade-opinion-leaves-us-questions-n1296586&bifrost=true
He doesn’t acknowledge that his decision and the decision of his conservative colleagues could theoretically give his own state of Virginia, which had to be forced by a Supreme Court ruling to permit interracial marriages, another shot at banning them.
I’m not the only one who believes Loving seems intentionally left out.