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Bernard Cohen, lawyer who took on mixed marriage laws, dies

October 14, 2020 10:55AM AKDT
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Bernard Cohen, lawyer who took on mixed marriage laws, dies
FILE – This Jan. 26, 1965 file photo shows Mildred Loving and her husband Richard P Loving. Bernard S. Cohen, who successfully challenged a Virginia law banning interracial marriage and later went on to a successful political career as a state legislator, has died. He was 86. Cohen and legal colleague Phil Hirschkop represented Richard and Mildred Loving, a white man and Black woman who were convicted of illegally cohabiting as man and wife and ordered to leave Virginia for 25 years(AP Photo, File)

By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — A lawyer who successfully challenged a Virginia law banning interracial marriage and later went on to a successful political career as a state legislator has died. Bernard S. Cohen was 86. Cohen and legal colleague Phil Hirschkop represented Richard and Mildred Loving, a white man and Black woman who were convicted of illegally cohabiting as man and wife and ordered to leave Virginia for 25 years. Cohen and Hirschkop represented the Lovings as they sought to have their conviction overturned. It resulted in the unanimous landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia ruling, which declared laws against interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. Cohen died Monday of complications from Parkinson’s disease.

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