Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-5924_n6io.pdf
Page Number: 8.0

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

5 

Opinion of the Court 

“ ‘verdict, taken from eleven, was no verdict’ ” at all.11 

This same rule applied in the young American States.  Six 
State  Constitutions  explicitly  required  unanimity.12    An-
other four preserved the right to a jury trial in more general 
terms.13  But the variations did not matter much; consistent 
with the common law, state courts appeared to regard una-
nimity as an essential feature of the jury trial.14 

It was against this backdrop that James Madison drafted 
and the States ratified the Sixth Amendment in 1791.  By
that time, unanimous verdicts had been required for about 
400 years.15  If the term “trial by an impartial jury” carried 

—————— 

11 Thayer 88–89, n. 4 (quoting Anonymous Case, 41 Lib. Assisarum 11 

(1367)); see also 1 M. Hale, Pleas of the Crown 33 (1736). 

12 See Del. Declaration of Rights §14 (1776), in 1 The Bill of Rights:  A 
Documentary History 278 (1971); Md. Declaration of Rights §XIX, in 3
Federal  and  State  Constitutions  1688  (F.  Thorpe  ed.  1909)  (Thorpe); 
N. C. Declaration of Rights §IX (1776), in 5 id., at 2787; Pa. Declaration 
of Rights §IX (1776), in 5 id., at 3083; Vt. Declaration of Rights, ch. I, §XI 
(1786), in 6 id., at 3753; Va. Declaration of Rights §8 (1776), in 7 id., at 
3813. 

13 See Ga. Const., Art. IV, §3 (1789), in 2 id., at 789; N. J. Const., Art. 
XXII (1776), in 5 id., at 2598; N. Y. Const., Art. XLI (1777), in 5 id., at 
2637; S. C. Const., Art. IX, §6 (1790), in 6 id., at 3264. 

14 See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Bowden, 9 Mass. 494, 495 (1813); People 
v. Denton, 2 Johns. Cas. 275, 277 (N. Y. 1801); Commonwealth v. Fells, 
36 Va. 613, 614–615 (1838); State v. Doon & Dimond, 1 R. Charlton 1, 2 
(Ga.  Super.  Ct.  1811);  see  also  Respublica  v.  Oswald,  1  Dall.  319,  323 
(Pa. 1788) (reporting Chief Justice McKean’s observations that unanim-
ity would have been required even if the Pennsylvania Constitution had 
not said so explicitly). 

15 To be sure, a few of the Colonies had relaxed (and then restored) the
unanimity requirement well before the founding.  For example, during a 
two decade period in the late 17th century, the Carolinas experimented 
with  a  non-common  law  system  designed  to  encourage  a  feudal  social 
structure; this “reactionary” constitution permitted conviction by major-
ity vote.  See Carolina Const., Art. 69 (1669), in 5 Thorpe 2781; Reinsch,
The English Common Law in the Early American Colonies, in 1 Select
Essays in Anglo-American Legal History 407 (1907).  But, as Louisiana 
admits, by the time of the Sixth Amendment’s adoption, unanimity had
again become the accepted rule.  See Brief for Respondent 17.