In the 1972 case Goosby et al. v. Osser et al., a group of African American citizens from Philadelphia challenged the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's system for selecting judges, alleging racial discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause under Fourteenth Amendment. They claimed that this system resulted in an all-white judiciary which was not representative of their community’s racial diversity. The Supreme Court ruled against them, stating that they failed to provide sufficient evidence proving intentional discrimination or demonstrating any causal relationship between the election process and its alleged discriminatory impact on black voters' rights to equal participation in state judicial elections.

In the dissenting opinion for Goosby et al. v. Osser et al., Justice William O. Douglas argued that the majority's decision to dismiss the case was premature and inappropriate, as it did not allow for a full examination of potential racial discrimination in jury selection processes within Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He contended that there were significant statistical discrepancies between African American representation in local populations and their presence on juries which warranted further investigation before dismissal could be justified. Furthermore, he criticized the majority's reliance on Swain v Alabama (1965), arguing that this precedent should not apply because it dealt with peremptory challenges rather than systematic exclusion from jury service altogether.