In the case of Anderson v. Alabama, 1960, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of petitioner Robert Lee Anderson who was convicted for rape and sentenced to death by an Alabama court. The main issue at hand was whether or not African Americans were systematically excluded from serving on grand juries in Houston County, Alabama where his trial took place. The Supreme Court found that despite there being a significant number of eligible black jurors residing within the county, none had served on a jury for over 30 years due to discriminatory practices. This violated Anderson's Fourteenth Amendment rights which guarantee equal protection under law regardless of race. Therefore, it concluded that such systematic exclusion resulted in racial discrimination against him during his trial process and reversed his conviction.

In the dissenting opinion for Anderson v. Alabama, it was argued that the petitioner's constitutional rights were violated due to systematic exclusion of African Americans from jury service in Houston County, Alabama. The dissent noted that despite a significant black population in the county, no African American had served on a grand or petit jury for over 30 years. This pattern suggested an intentional and discriminatory practice by local officials which infringed upon equal protection under law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Furthermore, this racial discrimination undermined public confidence in judicial proceedings and compromised their fairness and integrity. Therefore, according to this view, Mr. Anderson's conviction should have been overturned because he was indicted and convicted by all-white juries resulting from racially biased selection processes.