Issue: The issue rests in whether or not there is constitutional rights under the Equal Protection Act and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment for the State of Virginia to make it unlawful to marry solely on the basis of racial classifications.
Facts: Mildred Jeter, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, married in the District of Columbia in accommodation to its laws as of 1958. When returning to Virginia as married residents, Lovings was indicted for violations of interracial marriages. Upon a guilty plea, the two were sentenced to a year in jail that was suspended as long as they leave the state for twenty-five years. Questions of liberty and equality paved the way for this case.
Holding: The Supreme Court reversed the convictions under rights from the Equal Protection Act and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Reasons: The court found the laws of Virginia discriminatory of race. They reflected regulations regarding restrictions of marriage only outside the boundaries of whites. Therefore, these laws were seen as White Supremacy, unconstitutional, and in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The laws were also found in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process laws where Loving was denied liberty without due process of law, thus taking away one of his "basic civil rights of man," which is to marry on no other grounds besides racial discrimination. The State could not sanction these restrictions under the Constitution.