Supreme Court Striking Down Taboos

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses how the U.S. Supreme Court provided tangible direction in 1967's 'Loving vs. Virginia' and in 1986's 'Bowers vs. Hardwick'. The paper shows that by ruling against states' rights, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to prohibit interracial marriage in Loving but sided with Georgia in Bowers and ruled that the state statute prohibiting sodomy was constitutional -- striking gay rights a blow from which they only began to recover in 1996. The paper explores how these two cases had an immense impact on the historical progress of the twentieth century - the end of the century concerned itself primarily with equality and equal rights for various groups and these two cases were seminal in determining the course of the twenty-first century's continuation of the quest for equal rights.

From the Paper:

"Interracial marriages and gay rights represent much larger issues -- as if those issues are not large enough. American history since 1789 is one long debate between states' rights and federal powers. Those usually willing to effect change in favor of minority groups have clamored for federal powers to refuse states the right to marginalize certain groups. Those who prefer the conservative -- whether evangelical Christian or not -- viewpoint call for the federal government to stay out of states' regulations pertaining to hotbed issues like race and sexual orientation."

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