Strauder v. West Virginia

Media Items
Case Basics
Petitioner: 
Strauder
Respondent: 
West Virginia
Decided By: 
Waite Court (1877-1880)
Opinion: 
100 U.S. 303 (1880)
Categories: 
jury, trial by jury, criminal, equal protection, race discrimination

Cite this page
The Oyez Project, Strauder v. West Virginia , 100 U.S. 303 (1880)
available at: (http://oyez.org/cases/1851-1900/1879/1879_0)
Facts of the Case: 

A West Virginia law declared that only whites may serve on juries.

Question: 

Does the state law barring blacks from jury service violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Conclusion: 

Yes. Strong, writing for the majority, declared that to deny citizen participation in the administration of justice solely on racial grounds "is practically a brand upon them, affixed by law; an assertion of their inferiority, and a stimulant to that race prejudice which is an impediment to securing to individuals of the race that equal justice which the law aims to secure to all others."