Court Opinion

ID: 9419656
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:50:48.690274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:19.836769
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Murphy,
dissenting.
The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment entitles every person, whose life, liberty or property is in issue, to the benefits of grand and petit juries chosen *408without regard to race, color or creed. This constitutional principle is a fundamental tenet of the American faith in the jury system. The absence of such a principle would give free rein to those who wittingly or otherwise act to undermine the very foundations of this system and would make juries ready weapons for officials to oppress those accused individuals who by chance are numbered among unpopular or inarticulate minorities.
The State of Texas in this instance appears to have made a sincere effort to obey this constitutional mandate in selecting the grand jury which indicted the Negro petitioner. Until this Court’s decision in 1942 in Hill v. Texas, 316 U. S. 400, no Negro ever served on a grand jury in Dallas County, Texas, where this case arose. In an attempt to comply with that decision the three jury commissioners were careful here to appoint one Negro to the sixteen-member grand jury panel; he qualified and served on the twelve-man jury. Thus it cannot be said that Texas has systematically and completely excluded Negroes from the grand jury. Cf. Norris v. Alabama, 294 U. S. 587; Pierre v. Louisiana, 306 U. S. 354; Smith v. Texas, 311 U. S. 128; Hill v. Texas, supra. But that fact alone does not guarantee compliance with the Fourteenth Amendment, however commendable may be the attempt. Racial limitation no less than racial exclusion in the formation of juries is an evil condemned by the equal protection clause. “The Amendment nullifies sophisticated as well as simple-minded modes of discrimination.” Lane v. Wilson, 307 U. S. 268, 275. This case must therefore be reviewed with that in mind.
Petitioner, as a Negro, “cannot claim, as matter of right, that his race shall have a representation on the jury,” Neal v. Delaware, 103 U. S. 370, 394, inasmuch as “a mixed jury in a particular case is not essential to the equal protection of the laws,” Virginia v. Rives, 100 U. S. 313, 323. But petitioner, as a human being endowed with all the *409rights specified in the Constitution, can claim that no racial or religious exclusion, limitation or other form of discrimination shall enter into the selection of any jury which indicts or tries him.
It follows that the State of Texas, in insisting upon one Negro representative on the grand jury panel, has respected no right belonging to petitioner. On the contrary, to the extent that this insistence amounts to a definite limitation of Negro grand jurors, a clear constitutional right has been directly invaded. The equal protection clause guarantees petitioner not only the right to have Negroes considered as prospective veniremen but also the right to have them considered without numerical or proportional limitation. If a jury is to be fairly chosen from a cross section of the community it must be done without limiting the number of persons of a particular color, racial background or faith — all of which are irrelevant factors in setting qualifications for jury service. This may in a particular instance result in the selection of one, ,six, twelve or even no Negroes on a jury panel. The important point, however, is that the selections must in no. way be limited or restricted by such irrelevant factors.
In this case the State of Texas has candidly admitted before us “that none of the three [jury commissioners] intended to place more than one Negro upon the grand jury drawn by them.” Commissioner Wells testified that “We had no intention of placing more than one Negro on the panel. When we did that we had finished with the Negro.” In the words of Commissioner Tennant, “We three did not go to see any other Negroes, that is the only one. I did not have any intention of putting more than one on the list.” Finally, as Commissioner Douglas stated, “Yes, sir, there were other Negroes’ names mentioned besides the one we selected; we did not go talk to them; we liked this one, and our intentions were to get just one Negro on the grand jury; that is right. No, I *410did not have any intention of placing more than one Negro on the grand jury.”
Clearer proof of intentional and deliberate limitation on the basis of color would be difficult to produce. The commissioners’ declarations that they did not intend to discriminate and their other inconsistent statements cited by the Court fade into insignificance beside the admitted and obvious fact that they intended to and did limit the number of Negroes on the jury panel. By limiting the number to one they thereby excluded the possibility that two or more Negroes might be among the persons qualified to serve. All those except the one Negro were required to be of white color. At the same time, by insisting upon one Negro, they foreclosed the possibility of choosing sixteen white men on the panel. They refused, in brief, to disregard the factor of color in selecting the jury personnel. To that extent they have disregarded petitioner’s right to the equal protection of the laws. To that extent they have ignored the ideals of the jury system. Our affirmance of this judgment thus tarnishes the fact that we of this nation are one people undivided in ability or freedom by differences in race, color or creed.