Avery v. Georgia, 345 U.S. 559 (1953)

"The state has a constitutional duty to follow a procedure which would not discriminate."

Georgia, 1950. James Avery is convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Avery is black; the jury, all white. In Georgia, names of potential jurors are drawn from a box, with white names written on white paper, black names on yellow. For Avery's trial, sixty names are selected; all are white, even though the county is twenty-five percent black.

The state of Georgia says there's no proof of discrimination. The Supreme Court says the proof is in the jury pool. "Obviously," writes Chief Justice Vinson, "the use of white and yellow tickets makes it easier to discriminate. The state has a constitutional duty to follow a procedure which would not discriminate in the selection of jurors on racial grounds. If they failed in that duty, then this conviction must be reversed."

For more...

AMENDMENT 14 Due Process and Equal Protection of the Law

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. [^].

Your Constitutional Rights. A WEB & RADIO project of:
ACLU Montana | HearingVoices.