JURY SELECTION ANALYZED: PROPOSED REVISION OF FEDERAL SYSTEM

Authors

William Wirt Blume, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

It is proposed, and bills to carry out the proposal are now pending in Congress, that the federal system of jury selection be substantially revised, chiefly by establishing "uniform qualifications" for jurors who serve in the federal courts. An examination of these bills reveals that the proposed revision not only contemplates the elimination of conformity with state statutes insofar as they prescribe qualifications for, and exemptions from, jury service, but also contemplates a startling increase in the discretionary powers of the federal judges with respect to the whole process of jury selection. As an aid to a consideration of the merits of the proposed revision, an attempt will be made in Part One of this discussion to give a complete, even if elementary, analysis of jury selection as developed at common law and by statute. In Part Two, brief references will be made to the bills now pending in Congress.

Recommended Citation

William W. Blume, JURY SELECTION ANALYZED: PROPOSED REVISION OF FEDERAL SYSTEM, 42 Mich. L. Rev. 831 (1944).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol42/iss5/5