Notes on 28 U.S.C. § 1863 : US Code - Notes

Search Notes on 28 U.S.C. § 1863 : US Code - Notes

(June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 952; Pub. L. 90-274, Sec. 101,
Mar. 27, 1968, 82 Stat. 54; Pub. L. 92-269, Sec. 2, Apr. 6, 1972,
86 Stat. 117; Pub. L. 95-572, Sec. 2(a), Nov. 2, 1978, 92 Stat.
2453; Pub. L. 100-702, title VIII, Sec. 802(b), (c), Nov. 19, 1988,
102 Stat. 4657, 4658; Pub. L. 102-572, title IV, Sec. 401, Oct. 29,
1992, 106 Stat. 4511.)
HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940, ed., Sec. 415 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch.
231, Sec. 278, 36 Stat. 1165).
Subsections (a) and (b) are new and merely declaratory of
existing practice.
The phrase "or previous condition of servitude" was omitted as
obsolete.
Changes were made in phraseology.
REFERENCES IN TEXT
Section 1203(6) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe
Streets Act of 1968, referred to in subsec. (b)(5)(B), was
successively renumbered and redesignated as section 1204(8) of the
Act which is classified to section 3796b(8) of Title 42, The Public
Health and Welfare.
The date of enactment of the Jury Selection and Service Act of
1968, referred to in subsec. (c), is the date of enactment of Pub.
L. 90-274, which was approved Mar. 27, 1968.
AMENDMENTS
1992 - Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 102-572 inserted at end "The plan
for the district of Massachusetts may require the names of
prospective jurors to be selected from the resident list provided
for in chapter 234A, Massachusetts General Laws, or comparable
authority, rather than from voter lists."
1988 - Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 100-702, Sec. 802(b), designated
existing provisions as subpar. (A), inserted "except as provided in
subparagraph (B),", and added subpar. (B).
Subsec. (b)(6). Pub. L. 100-702, Sec. 802(b), amended par. (6)
generally. Prior to amendment, par. (6) read as follows: "specify
those groups of persons or occupational classes whose members shall
be barred from jury service on the ground that they are exempt.
Such groups or classes shall be exempt only if the district court
finds, and the plan states, that their exemption is in the public
interest and would not be inconsistent with sections 1861 and 1862
of this title. The plan shall provide for exemption of the
following persons: (i) members in active service in the Armed
Forces of the United States; (ii) members of the fire or police
departments of any State, district, territory, possession, or
subdivision thereof; (iii) public officers in the executive,
legislative, or judicial branches of the Government of the United
States, or any State, district, territory, or possession or
subdivision thereof, who are actively engaged in the performance of
official duties."
1978 - Subsec. (b)(7) to (9). Pub. L. 95-572 struck out par. (7)
relating to random jury selection plan provision for fixing the
distance, in miles or in travel time, from each place of holding
court beyond which prospective jurors residing should, on
individual request, be excused from jury service on the ground of
undue hardship in traveling to the place where court was held, now
incorporated in definition of "undue hardship or extreme
inconvenience" in section 1869(j) of this title, and redesignated
pars. (8) and (9) as (7) and (8), respectively.
1972 - Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 92-269 inserted provisions
requiring the master jury wheel to be emptied and refilled in not
greater than four years intervals.
1968 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 90-274 substituted provisions
requiring a written plan covering the random selection of jurors by
each United States District Court and the adoption, review, and
modification of the plan for provisions authorizing district judges
to exclude or excuse for good cause persons called as jurors.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 90-274 substituted provisions setting out
the nine required features of a plan for random jury selection,
including management by commission or clerk, selection from voter
registration lists, detailed procedures for selecting names, a
master jury wheel, excused or exempted groups, maximum distances of
travel, disclosure of names, and procedures for assigning jurors
drawn from the jury wheel to particular grand and petit jury
panels, for provisions authorizing the district court to excuse,
for the public interests, classes or groups upon a finding that
such jury service would entail undue hardship, extreme
inconvenience, or serious obstruction or delay in the fair and
impartial administration of justice.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 90-274 substituted provisions covering the
transmittal of the plan to a reviewing panel and the modification
thereof for provisions prohibiting the exclusion of any citizen
from juror service on account of race or color.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 90-274 added subsec. (d).
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1992 AMENDMENT
Amendment by Pub. L. 102-572 effective Jan. 1, 1993, see section
1101(a) of Pub. L. 102-572, set out as a note under section 905 of
Title 2, The Congress.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1978 AMENDMENT
Amendment by Pub. L. 95-572 applicable with respect to any grand
or petit juror summoned for service or actually serving on or after
Nov. 2, 1978, see section 7(a) of Pub. L. 95-572, set out as an
Effective Date note under section 1363 of this title.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1968 AMENDMENT
Amendment by Pub. L. 90-274 effective 270 days after Mar. 27,
1968, except as to cases in which an indictment has been returned
or a petit jury empaneled prior to such effective date, see section
104 of Pub. L. 90-274, set out as a note under section 1861 of this
title.
REFILLING OF MASTER JURY WHEEL NOT LATER THAN SEPTEMBER 1, 1973;
REFILLING OF QUALIFIED JURY WHEEL NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 1, 1973;
RETROACTIVE EFFECT
Sections 3 and 4 of Pub. L. 92-269 provided that:
"Sec. 3. (a) Each judicial district and each division or
combination of divisions within a judicial district, for which a
separate plan for random selection of jurors has been adopted
pursuant to section 1863 of title 28, United States Code, other
than the District of Columbia and the districts of Puerto Rico and
the Canal Zone, shall not later than September 1, 1973, refill its
master jury wheel with names obtained from the voter registration
lists for, or the lists of actual voters in, the 1972 general
election.
"(b) The District of Columbia and the judicial districts of
Puerto Rico and the Canal Zone shall not later than September 1,
1973, refill their master jury wheels from sources which include
the names of persons eighteen years of age or older.
"(c) The qualified jury wheel in each judicial district, and in
each division or combination of divisions in a judicial district
for which a separate plan for random selection of jurors has been
adopted, shall be refilled from the master jury wheel not later
than October 1, 1973.
"Sec. 4. (a) Nothing in this Act amending this section and
section 1865 of this title shall affect the composition of any
master jury wheel or qualified jury wheel prior to the date on
which it is first refilled in compliance with the terms of section
3.
"(b) Nothing in this Act shall affect the composition or preclude
the service of any jury empaneled on or before the date on which
the qualified jury wheel from which the jurors' names were drawn is
refilled in compliance with the provisions of section 3."
(!1) See References in Text note below.