Loving v. Virginia addressed the legality of bans on interracial marriage as violating which constitutional concept?

Loving v. Virginia addressed the legality of bans on interracial marriage as violating which constitutional concept?

• A. States' police powers
• B. Individual privacy rights
• C. Equal protection and the fundamental right to marry
• D. National sovereignty

Answer: (C)

The main concept being tested is equal protection and the fundamental right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment. Loving v. Virginia struck down state anti-miscegenation laws because they discriminated on the basis of race in a highly personal, intimate decision—the choice of whom to marry. The Court treated marriage as a fundamental liberty, so laws that burden that right must pass strict scrutiny. A race-based prohibition fails unless the state can show a compelling interest that cannot be achieved in a less intrusive way, and states did not meet that standard here. So the ruling rests on equal protection and the recognition that the right to marry is a core liberty protected by due process. While privacy arguments appear in some rights cases, Loving centers on equal protection and the federal protection of a fundamental marital right rather than a general privacy claim.

The main concept being tested is equal protection and the fundamental right to marry under the Fourteenth Amendment. Loving v. Virginia struck down state anti-miscegenation laws because they discriminated on the basis of race in a highly personal, intimate decision—the choice of whom to marry. The Court treated marriage as a fundamental liberty, so laws that burden that right must pass strict scrutiny. A race-based prohibition fails unless the state can show a compelling interest that cannot be achieved in a less intrusive way, and states did not meet that standard here. So the ruling rests on equal protection and the recognition that the right to marry is a core liberty protected by due process. While privacy arguments appear in some rights cases, Loving centers on equal protection and the federal protection of a fundamental marital right rather than a general privacy claim.