Whitus v. Georgia: Difference between revisions
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=== Decision === |
=== Decision === |
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==== Majority Opinion ==== |
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The majority opinion of the court was delivered by [[Tom C. Clark|Justice Thomas C. Clark.]] Justice Clark states that the appeal is not whether the defendants were wrongfully convicted of murder but if the jury selection purposely excluded the admittance of African Americans from the grand and petit juries. The system of selecting jurors comes from the books of the county tax receiver but has been has raised questions about if the system is rigged with notations that signify which males on the tax receiver’s list are African American. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 20:30, 3 December 2015
| Whitus v. Georgia | |
|---|---|
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| 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 | |
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| 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.
Decision
Majority Opinion
The majority opinion of the court was delivered by Justice Thomas C. Clark. Justice Clark states that the appeal is not whether the defendants were wrongfully convicted of murder but if the jury selection purposely excluded the admittance of African Americans from the grand and petit juries. The system of selecting jurors comes from the books of the county tax receiver but has been has raised questions about if the system is rigged with notations that signify which males on the tax receiver’s list are African American.
The
See also
External links
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