So, it is okay if a state were to change their laws and once again make it illegal for people of different races to marry? For some odd reason, I thought this fell under civil rights, not state rights. Miscegenation was against the law in several states. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down those laws. Many felt that such marriages were an obscenity and did their best to prevent these marriages, including county clerks refusing to sign the marriage certificates. I see no difference between the Court allowing same sex marriage today and allowing mixed race marriages in the past. there are times when civil rights should trump state rights. That's one of the reasons there was a civil war here.