Women Jurists

It is not until 1975 that the Supreme Court rules, in Taylor v. Louisiana, that jury service cannot be restricted to men. Before this, it was quite common for women to be "exempt" from serving. Utah became the first state to open its juries to both sexes in 1898, and only four other states granted this right to women before 1920. Even after the laws changed, few women were actually called for service, and even fewer sat. In some states, like Florida, a woman could only join the jury pool if she registered in person at the county courthouse. The Supreme Court of Mississippi, in 1966, upheld the statutes omitting women from the jury pool, ruling that "the legislature has the right to exclude women so they may contribute their services as mothers, wives, and homemakers." This stone-age argument goes one step further by claiming that keeping women off juries protects them from the "noxious atmosphere" of the criminal courtroom.

Interestingly, Taylor states that special exemptions for women deprive a defendant of a fair and impartial jury. Therefore, it is less the issue of discrimination against women than due process concerns raised by having an all-male jury hear a case that renders jury exclusion based on gender unconstitutional. The common practice of refusing to pay women for jury service, although men are of course financially compensated, is also found to violate the constitution. We've come a long way, baby.