In Foster et al. v. Illinois, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a case involving the violation of due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The appellants were convicted for murder in an Illinois state court and sentenced to death without being given access to counsel during their trial or at sentencing, which they argued was unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court upheld their conviction by a 5-4 vote stating that while defendants have a right to be represented by counsel during federal trials as per Sixth Amendment, this did not extend automatically to state courts unless there is proof of prejudice against them due to lack of representation. This decision highlighted how constitutional protections could vary between federal and state jurisdictions before incorporation doctrine fully applied Bill of Rights' provisions onto states through Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause.

In the dissenting opinion for Foster et al. v. Illinois, Justice Murphy argued that the defendants were denied their constitutional right to a fair trial due to an unfair jury selection process. He pointed out that although African Americans made up 16% of the county's population where the trial took place, none had served on a jury in over thirty years. This fact alone raised serious doubts about whether there was any genuine attempt to include them in juries as required by law and constitutionally mandated principles of equality and fairness. Furthermore, he noted that this exclusion could not be justified by claiming they lacked qualifications or willingness to serve since no evidence supported such assertions; instead it appeared more likely due to racial prejudice which is unacceptable under American justice system standards.