In the case of Donnelly v. United States in 1912, the Supreme Court ruled on a matter concerning jury selection. The defendant, Mr. Donnelly, was convicted for murder in Alaska and appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court arguing that he had been denied a fair trial because several potential jurors were dismissed due to their personal objections against capital punishment. He claimed this violated his Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury. The court rejected Donnelly's appeal by upholding that it is within a trial judge’s discretion to dismiss prospective jurors who express strong opposition towards capital punishment as they may not be able to deliver an unbiased verdict when death penalty is involved. It held that such dismissal does not violate any constitutional rights of defendants since those excluded are not biased in favor or against either party but rather have prejudiced views about the law itself which could interfere with their duties as jurors.

In the dissenting opinion for Donnelly v. United States, Justice Holmes disagreed with the majority's decision to uphold Donnelly's conviction based on evidence that he believed was insufficient and circumstantial at best. He argued that while there may have been suspicious circumstances surrounding the case, these alone were not enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Donnelly had committed mail fraud as charged. The justice emphasized his belief in upholding due process rights and ensuring fair trials by requiring solid proof of guilt before convicting someone of a crime. In this particular case, he felt those standards were not met and thus could not support the ruling made by his fellow justices.