June 12: Loving v. Virginia

Today in history, June 12, 1967: the Supreme Court struck down laws that tried to decide who people were allowed to love. Richard and Mildred Loving had been arrested in Virginia because their interracial marriage violated state law. Their case reached the highest court, and the justices unanimously ruled that marriage is a basic civil right, not a privilege a state can ration by race. The decision ended anti-miscegenation laws across the United States. It still matters because rights often become real only when ordinary people are brave enough to challenge ordinary cruelty.