Sometimes you just get surprised by the folks around you.

The other day, I heard that Bernie Cohen succumbed to Parkinson’s disease.  I knew he was a lawyer- but, no, he was a great lawyer.

Bernie served in the Virginia House of Delegates for about 6 years.  And, one of his accomplishments- something I truly appreciated when it became the law of the Commonwealth- was the prohibition against smoking in restaurants.  Finally, I could enjoy a meal without being choked to death by the incessant smoke.

(Yes, I also recall how many bars and restaurants swore their businesses would fold because of this “radical law”.  Except, they didn’t.  Of course.)

But, that was just one of many of the reasons we should know Bernie Cohen.

Back some 57 years ago, Bernie Cohen and Philip Hirschkop began arguing a case.  Four years later, the pair appeared and presented their case at the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS).   And, changed the course of history for the Commonwealth- and the rest of the US.

You see, these two guys were the attorneys for Richard and Mildred Loving.  Mildred and Richard got married on 2 June 1958 and lived in what was then rural Virginia.  (Now, it is considered a bedroom- albeit remote- community of Washington, DC.)

Except for one little, itsy bitsy problem.  The Racial Integrity Act of 1924.  Which prohibited the marriage of folks of different races.

And, as we now know our police are wont to do to this day, the local sheriffs broke into the Loving household at 2 AM to prevent Richard from sleeping with and living with his wife.  Because she was Black and he was White.

And, then, they were arrested.  They both pled guilty and were sentenced to one year in jail- unless they scooted out of Virginia and promised never to return for 25 years.

Which they did.  Moving to DC, where they missed their friends and their family.  And, when one of their children was hit by a car, they had enough of living “in the city”.   They wrote to Bobby Kennedy (then the Attorney General of the US)- who referred them to the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).  Which is how they got to Bernie Cohen; Bernie was a  volunteer lawyer for the ACLU- actually, he was one of the founders of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU.

Cohen and Hirschkop filed a federal class-action lawsuit, which took its time to meander to SCOTUS, on the second Monday in April 1967.  (This was the day before Rosh Chodesh Nisan, one of the Jewish New Years.)  The crux of the argument was Equal Protection under the law and Due Process.  63 days later (12 June 1967), the Warren Court issued the unanimous opinion that the anti-miscegenation statute was “odious to a free people”.  The Commonwealth of Virginia was effecting “invidious racial discrimination” with its prosecution of the Racial Integrity Act, clearly violating the 14^th Amendment.

This case became a movie back in 2016 (“Loving”, directed by Jeff Nichols).  Why was the movie made? Because the case was the critical factor mentioned by Justice Kennedy in SCOTUS’ ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.  What case is that?  The legalization of same-sex marriage.  The same principle in Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia- the right to marry is a constitutionally protected right of liberty, as SCOTUS ruled.

If you are tempted to honor Bernie, donations to the ACLU, Legal Services of Northern Virginia, or the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research would love your funding.