Which case established that Mexican Americans could not be excluded from juries based on their ethnicity?

Which case established that Mexican Americans could not be excluded from juries based on their ethnicity?

• A. Brown v Board of Education
• B. Hernandez v Texas
• C. Mendez v Westminster
• D. White v Regester

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that the Fourteenth Amendment protects people from being excluded from jury service because of their ethnicity. In Hernandez v. Texas (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that Mexican Americans are a recognizable group entitled to equal protection under the law, and states cannot systematically exclude members of that group from juries. The Court found that convicting someone based on an all-white jury, while Mexican Americans were left out of the pool, violated the due process and equal protection guarantees. This established that juries must be drawn from a cross section of the community and cannot discriminate on the basis of national origin or ethnicity. Other cases address different forms of discrimination—such as school segregation or districting that affects minority voting—rather than the specific issue of excluding people from juries for their ethnicity. Brown v. Board of Education and Mendez v. Westminster deal with education, and White v. Regester focuses on voting-district practices.

The key idea is that the Fourteenth Amendment protects people from being excluded from jury service because of their ethnicity. In Hernandez v. Texas (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that Mexican Americans are a recognizable group entitled to equal protection under the law, and states cannot systematically exclude members of that group from juries. The Court found that convicting someone based on an all-white jury, while Mexican Americans were left out of the pool, violated the due process and equal protection guarantees. This established that juries must be drawn from a cross section of the community and cannot discriminate on the basis of national origin or ethnicity.

Other cases address different forms of discrimination—such as school segregation or districting that affects minority voting—rather than the specific issue of excluding people from juries for their ethnicity. Brown v. Board of Education and Mendez v. Westminster deal with education, and White v. Regester focuses on voting-district practices.