McLaughlin v. Florida (1964)
In 1961, Dewey McLaughlin, a black man, and Connie Hoffman, a white woman, were each sentenced a $150 fine and thirty days in county jail for cohabitation under Florida’s anti-miscegenation statute. The couple, aided by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), appealed to the Supreme Court following Florida Supreme Court's decision to uphold its anti-miscegenation cohabitation clause. The McLaughlin side argued the Fourteenth Amendment in Pace v. Alabama conflicted with following court decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Dewey and Hoffman unanimously, repealing Florida’s cohabitation statute.
[Click here to see the court proceedings.]
[Click here to see the court proceedings.]
"I think it is simply not possible for a state law to be valid under our Constitution which makes the criminality of an act depend upon the race of the actor" (Wallenstein 201).
Justice Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1964)
Justice Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1964)