Which 1967 Supreme Court case struck down state laws banning interracial marriage in the United States?

Loving v. Virginia struck down state laws banning interracial marriage in the United States.

The case began with Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter Loving, a Black and Native American woman. They married in Washington, D.C., in 1958 because Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act prohibited interracial marriage. After returning home, they were arrested and pleaded guilty to violating Virginia law.

The couple challenged their conviction with help from the American Civil Liberties Union. On June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that laws banning interracial marriage violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantees of equal protection and due process.

The decision invalidated anti-miscegenation laws throughout the country. It is sometimes described only as a marriage-rights case, but it also directly rejected the idea that racial classifications in marriage law could be justified by claims of racial hierarchy. June 12 is commemorated in many places as Loving Day.