In the case of Ballard et al. v. United States in 1946, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for a court to exclude women from a jury based on their gender. The defendants, Guy and Edna Ballard, were leaders of a religious group who had been convicted of mail fraud by an all-male jury after they sent out literature promising spiritual healing in exchange for donations. They appealed their conviction on the grounds that women had been unfairly excluded from serving on their jury because the judge believed they would be too sympathetic towards Edna Ballard due to her gender. The Supreme Court agreed with them and overturned their convictions, ruling that excluding potential jurors solely based on sex violated both defendants' rights to an impartial trial as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment and equal protection under law as stated in Fourteenth Amendment. This landmark decision helped pave way for greater inclusion of women within legal system.

In the dissenting opinion for Ballard et al. v. United States, Justice Frankfurter argued that the majority's decision undermined the jury system by allowing courts to scrutinize and question a jury's impartiality after its verdict has been rendered. He contended that such post-verdict scrutiny could lead to endless litigation and uncertainty about final judgments, as parties might be tempted to challenge any unfavorable verdict on grounds of alleged juror bias or prejudice. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority's view that women should have been included in the grand and petit juries because their exclusion did not violate defendants' rights under Sixth Amendment since it didn't affect their ability to receive an impartial trial from a cross-section of community peers.