Whitus v. Georgia
1967 United States Supreme Court case / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Whitus v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545 (1967), found in favor of the petitioner (Whitus), who had been convicted for murder, and as such reversed their convictions.[1] This was due to the Georgia jury selection policies, in which it was alleged racial discrimination had occurred.
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 | Whitus v. State, 222 Ga. 103, 149 S.E.2d 130 (1966); cert. granted, 385 U.S. 813 (1966). |
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 |
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.