Supreme Court strikes down interracial marriage bans in Loving

The Supreme Court rules unanimously in Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967, that state bans on interracial marriage violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Richard and Mildred Loving had been convicted under Virginia law for marrying across racial lines. Chief Justice Earl Warren writes that marriage is a basic civil right and that racial classifications in marriage laws cannot survive constitutional review. The decision invalidates anti-miscegenation laws that remained in multiple states. The ruling ends a core legal structure of white supremacy that tried to police family formation, citizenship, and racial boundaries.