Justice Carrico was the author of the Virginia Supreme Court's unanimous 1966 opinion in "Loving v. Commonwealth", upholding Virginia's miscegenation statutes. Richard Loving and his wife, Mildred Loving, had been convicted of living together as husband and wife without being legally married, since their Washington, D.C. interracial marriage was not recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Both were sentenced to one year in prison for miscegenation, but their sentence was suspended on the condition that they leave the Commonwealth of Virginia and not return for 25 years together. They appealed the case to the Virginia Supreme Court.