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Does the constitution require unanimous juries? Supreme Court agrees to hear case arguing that it does!

The law is clear: under the Sixth Amendment, a unanimous jury is required. The vast majority of the Bill of Rights have been fully incorporated and made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Attorneys for a man convicted of murder in Louisiana argue that The Fourteenth Amendment should incorporate the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a unanimous jury, as well, noting that the Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected the notion of partial incorporation or watered down versions of the Bill of Rights. They also point out that Louisiana’s non-unanimous jury rule was adopted as part of a strategy by the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1898 to establish white supremacy. Will Oregon’s non-unanimous jury rule finally get struck down? Stay tuned.

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