Frazier v. United States (335 U.S. 497)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 20, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 335 U.S. 497 · 69 S. Ct. 201
- Docket
- No. 44
- Argued
- October 15, 1948
- Decided
- December 20, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Rutledge
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice Reed, Justice Black, Justice Rutledge (wrote)
- Dissenting
- Justice R. H. Jackson (wrote), Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Murphy
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Rutledge delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioner’s primary complaint is that he has been denied the trial “by an impartial jury” which the Sixth Amendment guarantees. He was convicted of violating the Harrison Narcotics Act, by a jury composed entirely of employees of the Federal Government. One juror, Moore, and the wife of another, Root, were employed in the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, who is charged by law with responsibility for administering and enforcing the federal narcotics statutes. As against objections based on these facts and other matters, the Court of Appeals affirmed petitioner’s conviction and sentence. 82 U. S. App. D. C. 332, 163 F. 2d 817. He has sought relief here by application for certiorari limited to the issues relating to the jury’s selection and composition. To review the determination made of them by the Court of Appeals we granted certiorari. 333 U. S. 873. Petitioner’s objections comprehend an attack upon the entire panel of prospective jurors, made during the course of voir dire examination, in an effort to have the panel stricken; a challenge to the jury as finally constituted, after petitioner had exhausted his ten peremptory challenges, voir dire examination had been completed, and the twelve jurors who tried the case had been qualified; and, either separately or in conjunction with his other objections, a claim…
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