Duren v. Missouri
| Duren v. Missouri | |
|---|---|
| Argued November 1, 1978 Decided January 9, 1979 | |
| Full case name | Duren v. Missouri |
| Citations | 439 U.S. 357 (more) 99 S. Ct. 664; 58 L. Ed. 2d 579; 1979 U.S. LEXIS 208 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Missouri |
| Holding | |
| The exemption on request of women from jury service under Missouri law, resulting in an average of less than 15% women on jury venires in the forum county, violates the "fair-cross-section" requirement of the Sixth Amendment as made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | White, joined by Burger, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell, Stevens |
| Dissent | Rehnquist |
Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357 (1979), was a United States Supreme Court case related to the Sixth Amendment. It challenged Missouri's law allowing gender-based exemption from jury service.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who later became a Supreme Court Justice, and Lee Nation argued for Duren in what became Ginsburg's last case before the Supreme Court as an attorney. Part of her argument was that making jury duty optional for women should be struck down because it treated women's service on juries as less valuable than men's, and also discriminated against men who enjoyed no such exemption.