Duren v. Missouri

Decided January 9, 1979. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-6067 · 439 U.S. 357 (1979) · Cited 2,373 times

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.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 8–1.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Taylor v. Louisiana · 419 U.S. 522 (1975)
• Hoyt v. Florida · 368 U.S. 57 (1961)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Castaneda v. Partida · 430 U.S. 482 (1977)
• Alexander v. Louisiana · 405 U.S. 625 (1972)
• Smith v. Texas · 311 U.S. 128 (1941)
• Peters v. Kiff · 407 U.S. 493 (1972)
• Ballard v. United States · 329 U.S. 187 (1946)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Duncan v. Louisiana · 391 U.S. 145 (1968)
• Strauder v. West Virginia · 100 U.S. 303 (1880)
• Whitus v. Georgia · 385 U.S. 545 (1967)
• Turner v. Fouche · 396 U.S. 346 (1970)
• Carter v. Jury Comm'n of Greene Cty. · 396 U.S. 320 (1970)
• Califano v. Goldfarb · 430 U.S. 199 (1977)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Berghuis v. Smith · 559 U.S. 314 (2010)
• Holland v. Illinois · 493 U.S. 474 (1990)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Lockhart v. McCree · 476 U.S. 162 (1986)
• JEB v. Alabama Ex Rel. TB · 511 U.S. 127 (1994)
• Bullington v. Missouri · 451 U.S. 430 (1981)
• Wainwright v. Witt · 469 U.S. 412 (1985)
• Wayte v. United States · 470 U.S. 598 (1985)
• Spaziano v. Florida · 468 U.S. 447 (1984)
• Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 497 U.S. 547 (1990)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Byron Raymond White’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1979). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).