Rawlins v. State of Georgia

Decision Date16 April 1906
Docket NumberNo. 547,547
Citation5 Ann. Cas. 783,26 S.Ct. 560,50 L.Ed. 899,201 U.S. 638
PartiesJ. G. RAWLINS, Milton Rawlins, Leonard Rawlins, and Jesse Rawlins, Plffs. in Err. , v. STATE OF GEORGIA
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Messrs.John Randolph Cooper and Oscar M. Smith for plaintiffs in error.

The court declined to hear Mr. John C. Hart on behalf of defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiffs in error were indicted for murder, tried, and found guilty. Leonard Rawlins was sentenced to the penitentiary for life, and the others were sentenced to be hanged. When the grand jury was organized each of the accused filed a written challenge to the array, on the ground that 'while there are in Lowndes county many lawyers, many preachers, ministers, many doctors, many engineers and firemen of railroad trains, and many dentists, as many as ten of each class named, or other large number of each of said class, all citizens and residents of said county, and being competent and qualified jurors, as to age and uprightness, experience and intelligence, and as to all the legal qualifications of a juror, yet each and every one of these classes of citizens, and each and every member thereof in the county, is expressly and purposely excluded from the grand jury service by the commissioners failing and refusing to put any of said names in the box, so that, not being in the box, they cannot be legally drawn for service.' The challenge was repeated as a plea in abatement, and the petit jury was challenged on the same ground. Rights under the 14th Amendment were specially set up and claimed. The challenges and pleas were overruled, subject to exceptions. The exceptions were overruled by the supreme court of the state (52 S. E. 1), and a writ of error was taken out to bring the case to this court.

At the argument before us the not uncommon misconception seemed to prevail that the requirement of due process of law took up the special provisions of the state Constitution and laws into the 14th Amendment for the purposes of the case, so that this court would revise the decision of the state court that the local provisions had been complied with. This is a mistake. If the state Constitution and laws as construed by the state court are consistent with the 14th Amendment, we can go no further. The only question for us is whether a state could authorize the course of proceedings adopted, if that course were prescribed by its Constitution in express terms.

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  • Peters v. Kiff 8212 5078
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 22 Junio 1972
    ... ... in the list of questions presented by the writ of certiorari. Pp ... 2. A State cannot, consistent with due process, subject a ... defendant to indictment by a grand jury or ... convicted him of burglary in the Superior Court of Muscogee ... County, Georgia. In consequence he contends that his conviction is ... invalid under the Due Process and Equal ... sufficient justification. See Rawlins v. Georgia, 201 U.S. 638, ... 640, 26 S.Ct. 560, 561, 50 L.Ed. 899 (1906), holding that a State ... ...
  • Taylor v. Louisiana 8212 5744
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 21 Enero 1975
    ...in particular occupations the uninterrupted performance of which is critical to the community's welfare. Rawlins v. Georgia, 201 U.S. 638, 26 S.Ct. 560, 50 L.Ed. 899 (1906). It would not appear that such exemptions would pose substantial threats that the remaining pool of jurors would not b......
  • Albert Twining v. State of New Jersey
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 9 Noviembre 1908
    ...50 L. ed. 256, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 87; Howard v. Kentucky, 200 U. S. 164, 50 L. ed. 421, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 189; Rawlins v. Georgia, 201 U. S. 638, 50 L. ed. 899, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 560; Felts v. Murphy, 201 U. S. 123, 50 L. ed. 689, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. Among the most notable of these decisions are t......
  • Snyder v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 8 Enero 1934
    ...175 U.S. 172, 20 S.Ct. 77, 44 L.Ed. 119; Howard v. Kentucky, 200 U.S. 164, 26 S.Ct. 189, 50 L.Ed. 421; Rawlins v. Georgia, 201 U.S. 638, 26 S.Ct. 560, 50 L.Ed. 899, 5 Ann.Cas. 783. 9 Hurtado v. California, supra, pages 528, 529 of 110 U.S., 4 S.Ct. 292; Twining v. New Jersey, supra, page 11......
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