Missouri Constitution

Article I
BILL OF RIGHTS
Section 22(b)

August 28, 2007



Female jurors--optional exemption.

Section 22(b). No citizen shall be disqualified from jury service because of sex, but the court shall excuse any woman who requests exemption therefrom before being sworn as a juror.

(1972) This section was upheld against the charge that it violated defendant's rights to an impartial jury drawn from a fair cross- section of the community and denied him due process of law as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. State v. Wright (Mo.), 476 S.W.2d 581.

(1977) Allowing women to decline jury duty does not deny equal protection, and the supplementary statute is constitutional. State v. Duren (Mo.), 556 S.W.2d 11.

(1977) Allowing women to decline jury duty upheld. Taylor v. Louisiana discussed and distinguished. State v. Lee (Mo.), 556 S.W.2d 25; State v. Minor (Mo.), 556 S.W.2d 35; State v. Davis (Mo.), 556 S.W.2d 45.

(1979) Missouri statute authorizing women to request automatic exemption from jury service violated "fair cross section" requirement of sixth amendment as applied to the states by the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. Duren v. Missouri, 99 S.Ct. 664.


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