Whitus v. Georgia

Decision

Whitus v. Georgia
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 7, 1966 Decided January 23, 1967
Full case name	Whitus, et al. v. Georgia
Citations	385 U.S. 545 (more) 87 S. Ct. 643; 17 L. Ed. 2d 599; 1967 U.S. LEXIS 2452
Case history
Prior	Cert. to the Supreme Court of Georgia
Holding
Convictions cannot stand if based on indictments or verdicts of juries on which racial discrimination has occurred.
Court membership
Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices Hugo Black · William O. Douglas Tom C. Clark · John M. Harlan II William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Abe Fortas
Case opinion
Majority	Clark, joined by unanimous

Whitus v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545 (1967), found in favor of the plaintiff (Whitus), who had been convicted for murder, and as such reversed their convictions. This was due to the Georgia jury selection policies; in which it was alleged racial discrimination had occurred.

The plaintiffs argued that, as their county had a 45% population of African-Americans, it was discrimination and unfair to have been presented with all-white or nearly all-white juries each time. Thus, the Supreme Court - as well as overturning the convictions - ruled that Georgia renew its jury selection policies. Previous law meant tax returns would be sorted, and "Negroes" would have a '(c)' placed next to their name. In the conviction of Whitus, the jury had been selected via old lists.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 385

External links

• Whitus v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545 (1967), FindLaw