''Taylor v. Louisiana'', 419 U.S. 522 (1975), was a

landmark decision Landmark court decisions, in present-day common law legal systems, establish precedents that determine a significant new legal principle or concept, or otherwise substantially affect the interpretation of existing law. "Leading case" is commonly ...

of the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

which held that women could not be excluded from a ''venire'', or jury pool, on the basis of having to register for jury duty. The court overturned '' Hoyt v. Florida'', the 1961 case that had allowed such a practice.

Background

Billy J. Taylor was indicted and tried for "aggravated

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

" under Louisiana's then-mandatory capital sentencing system. While armed with a butcher knife, he approached an automobile occupied by Mrs. Louise Willie, her daughter, and grandson, forced her to go to an abandoned road near Mandeville, where he

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

d her before

robbing Robbing is a term used in beekeeping. Bees from one beehive will try to rob honey from another hive. Occurrence Robbing behavior is especially strong when there is little nectar in the field. Strong colonies with the largest stores are the mos ...

them. Both parties agreed:

Issues

The issue before the court was not whether Taylor actually kidnapped anyone, but whether he had a fair trial because Louisiana law had a "conceded systematic impact" to eliminate female jurors from his jury:''Taylor v. Louisiana'', 419 U. S. at 525-26. A secondary issue was whether Taylor had

standing Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...

, as a man who would not be excluded from jury duty in Louisiana, to challenge the rule.Pursuant to , see ''Taylor v. Louisiana'', 419 U.S. at 525-26, 528, FN 12.

Decision

The Supreme Court "changed its mind and ruled the affirmative registration process was unconstitutional:" On the secondary issue of standing, it held:

Reasoning

The Courts' reasoning was based heavily on the precedent from prior case law: "The Court's prior cases are instructive": ''Duncan v. Louisiana'' appears to have been especially important to the court for use as a precedent. It was a significant United States Supreme Court decision, which incorporated the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial and applied it to the states. '' Ballard v. United States'' (1946), another precedent, concerned the exclusion of "an economic or racial group". Ultimately, the line of cases come from '' Glasser v. United States'' (1942), '' Smith v. Texas'' (1940), '' Pierre v. Louisiana'' (1939), and '' Strauder v. State of West Virginia'' (1880),''Strauder v. State of West Virginia'', . all of which concerned the exclusion of blacks from juries as unconstitutional violations of the

Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...

References

External links