Pace v. Alabama
| Pace v. Alabama | |
|---|---|
| Argued January 16, 1883 Decided January 29, 1883 | |
| Full case name | Pace v. State of Alabama |
| Citations | 106 U.S. 583 (more) 1 S. Ct. 637; 27 L. Ed. 207; 1882 U.S. LEXIS 1584 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Defendants convicted, 5 Circuit Court, 1881; sentenced each to two years in the state penitentiary; affirmed, Alabama Supreme Court (69 Ala 231, 233 (1882)) |
| Holding | |
| Alabama's anti-miscegenation statute is constitutional because the punishment proscribed for engaging in interracial sex is identical for members of different race engaging in the aforementioned conduct. Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinion | |
| Majority | Field, joined by unanimous |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S Const. amend XIV; Ala. code 4184, 4189 | |
Overruled by | |
| McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U.S. 184 (1964) Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) | |
Pace v. Alabama, 106 U.S. 583 (1883), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court affirmed that Alabama's anti-miscegenation statute was constitutional based on an argument that the punishment for violating the law against miscegenation applied the same without regard to race. This logic was clearly rejected by the Supreme Court in 1964 in McLaughlin v. Florida and in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia. Pace v. Alabama is one of the oldest court cases in America pertaining to interracial sex.