Duren v. Missouri (1978)
- Docket
- 77-6067
- Decided
- 1978-01-01
Summary
Question: Does Jackson County’s practice of automatically exempting women from jury duty on request violate the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment guarantees to a trial by a jury chosen from a fair cross section of the community? Conclusion: Yes. Justice Byron R. White, writing for an 8-1 majority, reversed the state court and remanded. The Supreme Court held that Duren’s statistical evidence sufficiently proved that Jackson County’s jury selection process violated his constitutional rights. Duren showed an underrepresented “distinctive” group resulting from Jackson County’s practice of exempting women. Also, there was no significant state interest to justify exempting women from jury service. Justice William H. Rehnquist dissented, arguing that the majority incorrectly used an combination of the Due Process clause and Equal Protection clause to make their decision.