Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote this opinion, declaring that laws restricting a citizen’s right to marry based on “invidious racial discriminations” violate the 14th Amendment’s “equal protection of the laws.”
Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not to marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.
Freedom to Marry 1967
The Supreme Court’s decision overturned anti-interracial marriage statutes in 16 states.
National Archives, Records of the Supreme Court of the United States
