PACE v. ALABAMA 106 U.S. 583 (1883)

To white supremacists, the MISCEGENATION issue was crucially important. The often unexpressed fear of interracial sex involving white women underlay all sorts of RACIAL DISCRIMINATION. The states punished adultery and fornication much more severely when the parties were of different races than when both were of the same race. Pace challenged the constitutionality of Alabama's statute, but the Supreme Court unanimously held that the unequal punishment did not violate the EQUAL PROTECTION clause of the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT because both the interracial fornicators were subject to the same punishment.