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Jury Selection Dbq Essay

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Coincidentally White As Reconstruction drew to a close in early 1877, a national debate about the proper selection of jury pools came to the forefront. Two major Supreme Court cases highlight this debate: Virginia v. Rives and Ex Parte Virginia, both of which stemmed from the killing of Aaron Shelton in Patrick County, Virginia. Following a seemingly unjust verdict given by an all-white jury pool in the murder trial, the defense attorneys petitioned a federal district judge, Alexander Rives. Rives not only took over the case, but also "charged a racially mixed federal grand jury" to "consider whether to indict state judges in the five counties from which the jurors were drawn" (HBS Rec. B 9). He based his claim on common knowledge of the makeup …show more content…

Rives justified taking over the case because "said petitioners had been denied such a trial as is secured to them by the laws of this State" (HBS Rec.B 6). This statement led to multiple interpretations, one being that Rives "declared invalid the conviction of a Negro by a white jury, on the grounds that every man has a right to be tried by his peers" and the second being that Rives argued that the nation forbade a "discrimination against jurors on the grounds of color" (HBS Rec. B 7). Those opposed to Rives frequently used the first interpretation, when in fact the second interpretation more accurately details Rives’s argument. Attorney General Field's response argued that Rives did not have the right to take over the case on the grounds of jury selection because nowhere does the constitution grant a trial by a jury of peers, or grant the right to "a negro jury." His contention assumed that Rives argued for an all-black jury, or even that he demanded for a partially black jury. This argument overlooked the illegal selection of the jury pool by judges who excluded blacks solely based on race which was at the core of Rives’s assertion. These judges are representative of the greater infringement upon black rights as many citizens had not yet come to terms with racial …show more content…

These tensions manifested themselves in violence, laws known as Black Codes which sought to bring back slavery in all but name, and many other horrific acts. Often times these issues were settled in the court system, which is why this issue of jury selection is very significant. As Peter J. Carter put

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