An Unbroken Thread: African American Exclusion from Jury Service, Past and Present

• Author: Alexis Hoag
• Position: Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer at Columbia Law School
• Pages: 56-81

Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review

Volume 81

Number 1

Fall 2020

Article 7

12-11-2020

An Unbroken Thread: African American Exclusion from Jury An Unbroken Thread: African American Exclusion from Jury

Service, Past and Present Service, Past and Present

Alexis Hoag

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Repository Citation Repository Citation

Alexis Hoag,

An Unbroken Thread: African American Exclusion from Jury Service, Past and Present

, 81 La.

L. Rev. (2020)

Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol81/iss1/7

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An Unbroken Thread: African American Exclusion

from Jury Service, Past and Present

Alexis Hoag*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction.................................................................................... 56

I. African American Exclusion.......................................................... 57

A. De Jure Exclusion.................................................................... 58

B. De Facto Exclusion.................................................................. 62

II. First Wave of Legal and Statutory Solutions ................................. 66

A. The Constitutional Right to a Fair Cross Section .................... 67

1. Distinctive Group.............................................................. 68

2. Relative Underrepresentation............................................ 68

3. Systemic Exclusion ........................................................... 71

B. The Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968............................ 72

III. Good Moral Character in the Modern Age .................................... 73

IV. Remedies........................................................................................ 75

A. Jury Source Lists...................................................................... 76

B. Focusing on Prong Three of Duren ......................................... 77

C. Clear Path to Re-Enfranchisement: Eliminate

Felony Conviction Disenfranchisement................................... 78

Conclusion...................................................................................... 79

Copyright 2020, by ALEXIS HOAG.

* Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer at Columbia Law School. I

would like to thank Daniel Harawa, Paula Hannaford-Agor, and Paul Finkelman

for their helpful feedback at the Louisiana Law Review’s annual symposium; the

brilliant women of Lutie on the Hudson, especially Deborah Archer, for their

community, support, and accountability; Claudia Kassner, for her stellar resear ch

assistance; Bernard Harcourt and our students in Columbia Law School’s

Abolition: A Social Justice Practicum, particularly Rosalyn Huff, for their

expertise and inspiration; and the capable and gracious staff of the Louisiana Law

Review, especially Addison Hollis. Any mistakes are my own.