Law and the Politics of Marriage:
Loving v. Virginia After 30 Years

Just 30 years ago, it was a crime for blacks and whites to marry one another in Virginia.

How the ban ended, what it meant for the United States then, and what implications it has for U.S. law today and tomorrow was explored at a conference commemorating the 30th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia.

Loving is the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned Virginia's anti-miscegenation law.

The conference was held at The Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law on Nov. 19-21, 1997. It was co-sponsored by a unique combination of institutions: Catholic University, the Howard University School of Law, and the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University.

Robert A. Pratt, a history professor at the University of Georgia who grew up knowing Richard and Mildred Loving, opened the conference with the human and political story behind the legal case (Nov. 20).

A top team of family law experts addressed "Marriage, Due Process and Equal Protection from 1967 to 1990" (Nov. 20) - Margaret Brinig, George Mason University School of Law, Lynn D. Wardle of Brigham Young University, and Laurence C. Nolan of Howard University.

The connection between Loving and contemporary challenges was addressed by Stephen Carter, Yale University scholar and noted author of The Culture of Disbelief, at lunch (Nov. 20).

Afternoon presentations addressed how Loving relates to marriage and constitutional law today. Hawaii's "same-sex marriage" case was discussed by David Orgon Coolidge, director of Catholic University's marriage law project (Nov. 20). This was followed by a panel including Katherine Spaht, Louisiana State University, who drafted that state's groundbreaking "covenant marriage" law; Lynne Marie Kohm, Regent University's School of Law; and Richard Duncan, University of Nebraska (Nov. 20).

Carl Schneider of the University of Michigan Law School, one of the foremost scholars in the United States on the relationship between family law and constitutional law, was the keynote dinner speaker (Nov. 20). A roundtable discussion on emerging trends in marriage law and politics was held the morning of Nov. 21, featuring international scholars Iain Benson, Centre for Renewal Policy in Canada and Robert Destro, Catholic University Law professor who also teaches at the CUA program at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

Listen to Prof. Robert Pratt
friend and chronicler of the Loving's,
Univ. of Georgia

Luncheon Speaker
Prof. Stephen Carter,
Yale Law School on Law and Marriage

Visit our CyberCast Archives

Download RealAudio Software

J. Rueben Clark School of Law

Howard University School of Law