ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the US Supreme Court has recognized the right to marry as a fundamental–albeit unenumerated–constitutional right under both the "fundamental rights" prong of equal protection and the substantive Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The Court applied strict scrutiny to a Virginia statute that prohibited interracial marriage, reasoning that marriage was a basic civil right fundamental to human existence and survival. The Court considered one such obstacle a year later in Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 US 374 (1978). The Court reiterated the notion that the right to marry was "fundamental," and substantial interference with that right could not be sustained merely because the state could cite a "rational" justification. This case reinforced the distinction between regulations that grant or deny public benefits based on marital status Jobst and ones that determine who may lawfully marry (Zablocki).
