100 U.S. (10 Otto) 303 (1879)
The plaintiff in error, a colored man, was indicted for murder in the Circuit Court of Ohio County, West Virginia, on the 20th of October, 1874.1 Upon trial he was convicted and sentenced.2 The record was then removed to the Supreme Court of the State, and there the judgment of the Circuit Court was affirmed.3 A writ of error brought the case before the United States Supreme Court.4
Before the trial of the indictment commenced in the state circuit court, the defendant presented a verified petition praying for removal of the cause into the Circuit Court of the United States.5 The petition stated that by virtue of the laws of West Virginia no colored man was eligible to be a member of the grand jury or to serve on a petit jury in the state.6 White men were so eligible.7 It further stated that by reason of his being a colored man and having been a slave, he had reason to believe and did believe he could not have the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings in the State of West Virginia for the security of his person.8 This benefit is as is enjoyed by white citizens.9
The state court denied the petition for removal and forced the cause to trial.10 Motions to quash the venire because the law under which it was issued was unconstitutional, to challenge the array of the panel, for a new trial, and in arrest of judgment were then made.11 All of these motions were overruled.12
The law of the State referenced in the petition and motions was enacted on the 12th of March, 1873.13 It provided that all white male persons who are twenty-one years of age and who are citizens of the state shall be liable to serve as jurors, except for state officials.14
Whether, by the Constitution and laws of the United States, every citizen of the United States has a right to a trial of an indictment against him by a jury selected and impanelled without discrimination against his race or color, because of race or color?15
The Fourteenth Amendment protects citizens from state laws denying equal protection of the laws by discriminating on the basis of race in jury selection, creating an immunity from such unfriendly legislation.16
Yes. The plaintiff in error, a colored man, was indicted for murder in the Circuit Court of Ohio County in West Virginia on the 20th of October, 1874. Upon his conviction and sentencing in that court, the record was removed to the Supreme Court of the State, where the judgment was affirmed. A writ of error then brought the case to the United States Supreme Court for review.
Before the trial commenced in the state circuit court, the defendant filed a verified petition seeking removal of the cause to the federal circuit court. The petition asserted that West Virginia law rendered no colored man eligible for grand or petit jury service while white men were eligible. As a colored man and former slave he believed he could not receive the full and equal benefit of the laws as white citizens would.
The state court denied the removal petition and proceeded to trial. The defendant then made motions to quash the venire on constitutional grounds, to challenge the array of the panel, for a new trial, and in arrest of judgment, all of which the court overruled. The controlling state statute, enacted March 12, 1873, limited jury service to white male citizens twenty-one years of age, with exceptions only for state officials.
The Fourteenth Amendment ordains that no State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.17 This provision was designed to assure to the colored race the enjoyment of all the civil rights that under the law are enjoyed by white persons.18 The West Virginia statute respecting juries is such a discrimination against colored men.19 It singles them out and expressly denies them the right to participate in the administration of the law as jurors because of their color.20
Yes, every citizen has the right to a jury selected without racial discrimination under the Fourteenth Amendment.21
Related opinions on this issue
Joined by Justice Clifford
Justice Field dissents from the judgment of the court in this case on the grounds stated in his opinion in Ex parte Virginia.22 Mr. Justice Clifford concurs with him.
Whether, if he has such a right, and is denied its enjoyment by the State in which he is indicted, he may cause the case to be removed into the Circuit Court of the United States?23
Yes. The petition of the plaintiff in error filed in the state court before trial made a case for removal under section 641 because it set forth facts showing denial of immunity from racial discrimination in jury selection by the state statute.26 The statute of West Virginia discriminating in the selection of jurors against negroes because of their color amounts to a denial of the equal protection of the laws.27 Section 641 provides an efficient mode of protecting rights and immunities conferred by the Federal Constitution by allowing removal before trial into the next Circuit Court of the United States.28
There was error in proceeding to trial after the petition was filed.29
Yes, when denied the right by state law the defendant may remove the case to federal court under section 641.30