Why the Constitutional Right to Marry is an Upper Tier Right

Running head: WHY THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO MARRY IS AN UPPER TIER RIGHT
Why the Constitutional Right to Marry is an Upper Tier Right
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Why the Constitutional Right to Marry is an Upper Tier Right
A fundamental right is a privilege that is accorded to all human beings according to the law of the land. In the United States of America fundamental laws are featured within the constitution, according to the U.S Declaration of Independence, every human being has been given the right to life, freewill and the right to seek self fulfillment by the creator Himself. The right to equal protection and the right to marry are observed by Federal law as Fundamental or Upper Tier rights for all individuals. This paper will discuss why the constitutional right to marry is an upper tier right.
Through analyzing the following three cases, it will be possible for us to understand why the constitutional right to marry is a fundamental right: Loving vs. Virginia, Bowers vs. Hardwick and Lawrence vs. Texas. In June of 1958, two citizens of Virginia, Richard Loving, a white man and Mildred Jeter, a Negro woman got married in the District of Colombia. On October of the same year, a grand jury issued a denunciation that charged the Lovings for violation of Virginia’s law on interracial marriages. The Lovings pleaded guilty on January 6, 1959 after which the Lovings were sentenced to one year in prison, a sentence which was suspended for a period of 25 years on condition that they left the state and did not return to the state of Virginia together after the 25 year period (Loving et ux. V. Virginia). The Lovings filed a complaint that argued that the courts decision was against their freedom of equality and the Fourteenth Amendment. Critics argue that the State of Virginia’s adoption of a law that prohibits marriages between people on the basis of race is in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Therefore, the statutes which led to the court’s verdict on the Lovings in 1958 are regarded as not being consistent with the Fourteenth amendment which holds that the right to equality and the right of marriage as fundamental rights. Therefore the Supreme Court found that the Virginia Law was in violation of the fundamental freedom of marriage and the Equal Protection Clause (Loving et ux. V. Virginia).
The Bowers vs. Hardwick case is one where the Supreme Court of the United States of America made a decision tha...