Maryland passed one of the first such laws in 1664, and Virginia followed in 1691. Over time, most states had a ban at some point. Many targeted marriages between white and Black people, and some also covered Asian, Filipino or Native American people. The laws protected white racial status and kept property and inheritance within white families.
California's Supreme Court struck down that state's ban in Perez v. Sharp in 1948, the first state high court to do so. When the US Supreme Court decided Loving in 1967, Virginia and 15 other states still had bans. Some states kept the dead language in their constitutions. Alabama voters removed it in 2000, the last state to do so, with about 40 percent voting to keep it.
In 2022, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which requires federal and state recognition of marriages regardless of the couple's race or sex.