06/12/2026
On June 12, 1967, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in the landmark civil rights case Loving v. Virginia. On this day, 59 years ago, the Warren Court found that Virginia had violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by prohibiting in*******al marriage, and clearly ruled that laws banning in*******al marriage were unconstitutional. Sadly, anti-miscegenation laws did not disappear immediately following SCOTUS's ruling in Loving v. Virginia; Alabama became the last state in the union to update its state constitution and remove anti-miscegenation language in 2000 (33 years after the Supreme Court's unanimous decision).
In the 21st century, the Loving v. Virginia decision was cited in a series of cases seeking to overturn bans on same-s*x marriage, including in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which ultimately required states to allow same-s*x marriage under both the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses. The Loving v. Virginia decision laid the groundwork for multiple momentous civil rights wins, and was foundational for guaranteeing Americans--including Wisconsinites--the freedom to love and marry whomever they love, regardless of race or s*x.
