Jury Selection

Jurors for a particular trial are chosen from the people summoned through a process called voir dire, in which the judge, and in many courts the lawyers, ask about their backgrounds, views, and connections to the case. Either side can ask the judge to dismiss a juror for cause, such as bias or a relationship with a party, and there is no limit on such challenges. Each side also has a set number of peremptory challenges to dismiss jurors without giving a reason, for example ten for the defense and six for the prosecution in most federal felony trials.

Peremptory challenges may not be used to exclude jurors because of race, as the Supreme Court held in Batson v. Kentucky in 1986, or sex, as it held in 1994. A lawyer accused of discrimination must offer a neutral reason, and the judge decides whether it is genuine. Critics say these rules are easy to evade, and Arizona abolished peremptory challenges entirely in 2022, while Washington and California adopted stricter tests.

Federal criminal juries have 12 members and must reach a unanimous verdict, and in Ramos v. Louisiana in 2020 the Supreme Court held that state juries must also be unanimous to convict of a serious crime, ending split verdicts in Louisiana and Oregon. Federal civil juries have six to twelve members. If a jury cannot agree, the judge declares a mistrial and the case may be retried. Jurors may not be punished for their verdicts, which gives them the power, though not the right, to acquit despite the evidence, a practice known as jury nullification that courts do not instruct jurors about.