In the 1949 case of Cassell v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court examined whether a black defendant's rights were violated when jury selection procedures in Dallas County, Texas systematically excluded African Americans from serving on juries. The plaintiff argued that this practice was discriminatory and unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. However, despite acknowledging evidence of racial discrimination in jury selection processes, the court upheld his conviction by a vote of 5-4 because it found no direct proof that any qualified individuals had been purposely excluded from his specific trial jury due to their race or color. This decision sparked controversy as critics claimed it failed to adequately address systemic racism within judicial systems.

In the dissenting opinion for Cassell v. Texas, Justice Wiley Rutledge argued that the systematic exclusion of African Americans from grand juries violated both due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. He believed that this case was an opportunity to address racial discrimination in jury selection processes, which had been a longstanding issue in many states. Justice Rutledge contended that even though there were no explicit laws barring African Americans from serving on juries, discriminatory practices during jury selection effectively achieved this outcome. He emphasized that such practices not only denied defendants their constitutional rights but also undermined public confidence in the justice system by perpetuating racial bias and inequality within it.