Facts of the Case

Provided by Oyez

Billy J. Taylor was indicted on kidnapping charges by the grand jury of St. Tammany Parish. The day before his trial was supposed to start, he filed a motion to quash the petit jury that was selected for his trial because he argued that women were systematically excluded, which denied him a right to trial by a jury of his peers. Although 53% of eligible jurors in his district were female, only 10% of the jury wheel was female. This discrepancy was due to an article of the Louisiana Constitution that specifies that a woman could not be selected for jury service unless she had previously submitted a written declaration of her desire to serve. The trial court dismissed Taylor’s motion, and he was tried and found guilty. He appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which held that the article regulating women’s jury service did not violate federal law.

Questions

  1. Does an article of the Louisiana state constitution that limits female jury service violate a defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to a jury of his peers?

Conclusions

  1. Yes. Justice Byron R. White delivered the opinion of the 8-1 majority. The Court held that a jury made up of a representative cross-section of the community is an essential component of the Sixth Amendment. The article, while not actively disqualifying women from serving on the jury, systematically prevented many women from serving. Given the passage of the Federal Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968 that guarantees a fair cross-section of the population for juries in federal courts, the Court held that Congress clearly considered a representative jury necessary for a fair trial.

    Chief Justice Warren E. Burger concurred in the result.

    Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote a dissenting opinion where he argued that the Sixth Amendment only prevented the use of jury selection procedures that were likely to result in an unfair or biased jury. Since there was no evidence that the article in the Louisiana state constitution undermined jury fairness or that Taylor’s trial was biased, the Court should not overturn the decision of the Louisiana Supreme Court.