Social Club

Defendant Marrero was a Federal corrections officer employed at a facility in Danbury, Connecticut. In 1977 he was arrested inside a Manhattan social club while carrying a loaded .38 caliber automatic pistol. At the time of arrest he asserted his Federal corrections officer status and maintained that he was authorized to carry the weapon without a permit. Marrero claimed that his belief rested on interpretations supplied by fellow officers and teachers together with the wording of the peace officer statutes themselves. The case had already moved through several procedural stages before trial. Marrero's pretrial motion to dismiss the indictment was granted at 94 Misc 2d 367. The Appellate Division reversed that order and reinstated the indictment by a divided vote at 71 AD2d 346. Marrero's subsequent appeal from the Appellate Division order lapsed and was dismissed. At trial Marrero sought to present evidence that his personal misunderstanding of the statutory definition of a peace officer excused his conduct. The trial court rejected the proffered defense, refused to charge the jury on the issue, and the jury returned a verdict convicting him of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction.

Robert Swain, a Negro, was indicted and convicted of rape in the Circuit Court of Talladega County, Alabama, and sentenced to death. His motions to quash the indictment, to strike the trial jury venire, and to declare void the petit jury chosen in the case, all based on alleged invidious discrimination in the selection of jurors, were denied. The Alabama Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. Negro males over twenty-one constitute twenty-six percent of all males in Talladega County in that age group. Since 1953, only ten to fifteen percent of the grand and petit jury panels drawn from the jury box have been Negroes. Negroes served on eighty percent of the grand juries selected during this period, with the number ranging from one to three. There were four or five Negroes on the grand jury panel in this case, out of which two served on the grand jury that indicted Swain. Although there has been an average of six to seven Negroes on petit jury venires in criminal cases, no Negro has actually served on a petit jury since about 1950. In this case there were eight Negroes on the petit jury venire but none actually served, two being exempt and six being struck by the prosecutor. Alabama law requires the three jury commissioners in Talladega County to place on the jury roll all male citizens over twenty-one who are reputed to be honest, intelligent men and are esteemed for their integrity, good character, and sound judgment. In practice, however, the commissioners do not place on the roll all such citizens. A typical jury roll at best contains about 2,500 names, out of a total male population over twenty-one of 16,406 persons. Each commissioner, with the clerk's assistance, produces names of persons who in his judgment are qualified, drawing from city directories, registration lists, club and church lists, conversations with other persons in the community, and personal and business acquaintances. In Talladega County the petit jury venire in a capital case numbers about 100. After excuses and removals for cause, the venire is reduced to about 75. The jury is then struck, with the defense striking two veniremen and the prosecution one in alternating turns until only twelve jurors remain. The prosecutor struck the six Negroes available for jury service in the process of selecting the jury to try Swain. The record shows that no Negro has ever served on a petit jury in Talladega County within living memory. The prosecutor, who had served since 1953, testified that striking is done differently depending on the race of the defendant and the victim of the crime, and that in some cases the prosecution agreed with the defense to remove Negroes from the venire.

In 1920, the United States Jaycees was formed as a nonprofit membership corporation incorporated in Missouri with its national headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The organization's bylaws established regular membership limited to young men aged 18 to 35, with associate membership open to women and older men who could not vote or hold office. By 1981, it had grown to about 295,000 members across 7,400 local chapters affiliated with 51 state organizations. Beginning in 1974 and 1975, the Minneapolis and St. Paul chapters admitted women as regular members, prompting the national organization to impose sanctions such as denying eligibility for offices and awards and refusing to count their votes at conventions. In December 1978, the national president notified the chapters that revocation of their charters would be considered at an upcoming board meeting. Shortly thereafter, chapter members filed discrimination charges with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights alleging violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Following an evidentiary hearing, the hearing examiner found the Jaycees to be a place of public accommodation and ordered it to cease discriminating on the basis of sex. The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the determination that the organization constituted a public business facility under the Act. The Jaycees then renewed its federal lawsuit in the District Court for the District of Minnesota against state officials, claiming that enforcement of the Act infringed constitutional rights. After trial, the District Court ruled for the state officials, but the Eighth Circuit reversed. The Supreme Court granted review of the case.

Virginia Code Annotated § 18.2-423 makes it unlawful for any person, with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons, to burn or cause to be burned a cross on the property of another, a highway, or other public place. The statute further provides that any such burning of a cross shall be prima facie evidence of an intent to intimidate a person or group of persons. In 1998 three individuals were separately convicted under this statute in two incidents. Barry Black was convicted for leading a cross burning at a Ku Klux Klan rally on private property in Carroll County. Richard Elliott and Jonathan O'Mara were convicted for burning a cross on the lawn of their African-American neighbor James Jubilee in Virginia Beach. The Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed the convictions of both Elliott and O'Mara. The Supreme Court of Virginia consolidated the appeals and held the statute unconstitutional on its face. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in 2002 to review the decision.