Virginia v. Rives
| Virginia v. Rives | |
|---|---|
| Argued October 20–21, Decided March 1, 1880 | |
| Full case name | Virginia v. Rives |
| Citations | 100 U.S. 313 (more) |
| Holding | |
| Sec. 641 of the Revised Statutes provides removal to federal courts as a remedy for constitutional rights violations when a state constitution or legislative act is discriminatory on its face. The Equal Protection Clause is broader than the remedy provided by Sec. 641, and does not require a specific composition of the venire. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Strong |
| Concurrence | Field, joined by Clifford |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. XIV, Revised Statutes Sec. 641 | |
Virginia v. Rives, 100 U.S. 303 (1880), was a United States Supreme Court case about race discimination in jury selection. Two black teenagers accused of murdering a white man in Patrick County, Virginia in autumn 1878 were convicted by an all-white jury. Their defense attorneys accused local officials of systematically excluding blacks from the jury pool in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The Court unanimously ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th prohibited facially discriminatory laws and intentional discrimination but did not guarantee a mixed-race jury. Rives has not been formally overturned but is no longer considered "good law" because it is effectively superseded by more recent cases.