Whitus v. Georgia

Case Date: 07/22/1967

Whitus v. Georgia, 385 U.S. 545 (1967), found in favor of the plaintiff (Whitus), who had been convicted for murder, and as such reversed their convictions. This was due to the Georgia jury selection policies; in which it was alleged racial discrimination had occurred. The plaintiffs argued that, as their county had a 45% population of African-Americans, it was discrimination and unfair to have been presented with all-white or nearly all-white juries each time. Thus, the Supreme Court - as well as overturning the convictions - ruled that Georgia renew its jury selection policies. Previous law meant tax returns would be sorted, and "Negroes" would have a '(c)' placed next to their name. In the conviction of Whitus, the jury had been selected via old lists.