Reply #15: Look to CA Perez v Sharp - struck down anti-miscegnation laws [View All]

[mondo joe]

Read the California Supreme Court decision "Perez v. Sharp," which struck down that state's anti-miscegenation laws.

Here are just a few paragraphs:

Marriage is thus something more than a civil contract subject to regulation by the state; it is a fundamental right of free men. There can be no prohibition of marriage except for an important social objective
and by reasonable means. . . .

Legislation infringing rights must be based upon more than prejudice and must be free from oppressive discrimination to comply with the constitutional requirements of due process and equal protection of the laws. . . .

In determining whether the public interest requires the prohibition of a marriage between two persons, the state may take into consideration matters of legitimate concern to the state. Thus, disease that might become a peril to the prospective spouse or to the offspring of the marriage could be made a
disqualification for marriage. Such legislation, however, must be based on tests of the individual, not on arbitrary classifications of groups or races, and must be administered without discrimination . . . .

http://www.multiracial.com/government/perez-v-sharp.html