Taylor v. Louisiana case brief

Taylor v. Louisiana case brief summary
419 U.S. 522 (1975)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant appealed a judgment of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, which affirmed his conviction for aggravated kidnapping and held that La. Constitutional art. VII, § 41, which excluded women from jury service, was not unconstitutional under federal law.

CASE FACTS
Defendant contended that his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated in his criminal trial.

DISCUSSION

• The Court found that under La. Constitutional art. VII, § 41 and La. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 402, women were excluded from jury service unless they filed a written declaration of their desire to be subject to such service. 
• The Court further found that no women were on the venire from which defendant's jury was selected and that women comprised about 53 percent of the population in the judicial district. 
• The Court reversed the judgment and remanded the case. 
• Because the Sixth Amendment entitled defendant to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community and because this fair cross-section requirement was violated by the systematic exclusion of women from jury service, the Court concluded that defendant's constitutional right to an impartial jury had been violated.

CONCLUSION

The Court reversed defendant's conviction and remanded the case.

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Emanuel Law Outline: Criminal Procedure