Assemblyman John F. McKeon (D Essex-Morris) introduced legislation codifying the right of New Jersey residents to enter into interracial marriages.  “The recent United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade leaving reproductive freedom to be the choice of individual states opened the door to doing the same as to marriage equality, access to contraception and yes, interracial marriage.”  This proposal will ensure that in our State, a couple’s right to enter into a marriage of their choosing – where race is not a prohibiting factor –  will be codified in the law.  

The majority opinion in Dobbs authored by Justice Thomas determined the predicate of Roe v. Wade based on the 14th Amendment and substantive due process was “demonstrably erroneous”. Thomas called upon his fellow jurists to “correct the error”.  He went even further to declare that substantive due process conflicts with the strict meaning of the Constitution and as such “… harmed our country … in many ways.”

In the 1967 landmark decision of Loving v. Virginia the United States Supreme Court struck down a law prohibiting interracial marriage citing the 14th Amendment and substantive due process as the reason why.  In Dobbs, the majority opinion recommended any decision on that basis needed to be “…address and rectified”.  As such, said McKeon “the threat is not just theoretical, but very real.  It is imperative that we codify this right into New Jersey law before the United States Supreme Court erroneously disrupts it.”

“This is an unprecedented time in our Nation’s history.  The Supreme Court has adopted a pattern of jurisprudence overruling decades of precedent overwhelmingly supported by the mainstream.  It is incumbent upon us as legislators to act in order to ensure that the rights of our residents will be protected under New Jersey law.”