Loving v Virginia

Loving v Virginia is a 1967 decision of the United States Supreme Court that struck down state laws banning interracial marriage. Richard Loving and Mildred Loving married in Washington DC, where their marriage was legal, and were prosecuted after returning to their home state of Virginia, which criminalized marriage between white and non-white residents. The Supreme Court unanimously held that Virginias anti-miscegenation statute violated both the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because marriage is a fundamental right that cannot be restricted on the basis of race. The decision invalidated similar laws still on the books in more than a dozen states and remains a foundational precedent on marriage as a fundamental right.