Opinion ID: 1674080
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Discrimination Against Negroes in Selection of Jury

Text: By motions and bills of exceptions, the issue is presented as to whether Negroes were discriminated against in the selection of juries in Orleans Parish. We will note this issue only briefly for these motions and the stipulation of facts upon which they are predicated are the same as those we recently considered in two other Orleans Parish cases: State v. Barksdale, 247 La. 198, 170 So.2d 374 (1965) and State v. Simpson, 247 La. 883, 175 So.2d 255 (1965). In those recent cases we found no discrimination against Negroes and the decisions are controlling here. One question, however, which concerns the selection of juries, is presented here which we had no opportunity to consider in the Barksdale and Simpson cases. It involves the difference in the method of selecting grand juries in Orleans Parish and that used in the other parishes of the State. More specifically, it is pointed out that the law provides that in Orleans Parish the grand jury is selected by the judge, whereas in the other parishes, except for the foreman, the selection is by lot. It is asserted that no justifiable explanation exists for this difference which is arbitrary and unreasonable resulting in discrimination against Negroes. Thus the defense says equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution is denied. Articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure which establish these different methods of selection (La.Code Crim.Proc. arts. 184 and 196 (1928)) have been considered by us before. In State v. Rue, 236 La. 451, 107 So.2d 702 (1958), we found, and we find again, that the difference in method deprived the accused of no constitutional right. Equal protection of the laws upon which defendants rely relates to equality between persons as such, rather than between areas. The guaranty of equal protection is not a demand that all state laws operate from boundary to boundary. It compels no state to adopt an iron rule of territorial uniformity for legislation. So in the enactment of laws, the legislature may consider the needs and desires of the various sections of the state without denying equal protection. State v. Guidry, 247 La. 631, 173 So.2d 192 (1965). See also Gardner v. State of Michigan, 199 U.S. 325, 26 S.Ct. 106, 50 L.Ed. 212 (1905). These propositions of law effectively dispose of this contention.