In the case of Maxwell v. Bishop, Penitentiary Superintendent in 1969, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on whether a jury's discretion to impose a death sentence was unconstitutional due to its arbitrary and discriminatory application. The petitioner, Maxwell, had been convicted of rape by an Arkansas court and sentenced to death. He appealed his sentence arguing that it violated his Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment as well as Fourteenth Amendment rights for equal protection under law because juries were given unguided discretion in imposing capital punishment which led to racial discrimination in sentencing decisions. However, the Supreme Court held that while there may be issues with how juries apply capital punishment sentences across different cases or individuals (including potential racial bias), this did not make such sentences inherently unconstitutional per se. Therefore, they upheld Maxwell’s conviction but remanded back for further proceedings consistent with their opinion.

In the dissenting opinion for Maxwell v. Bishop, Justice Harlan argued that the majority's decision to overturn Maxwell's death sentence due to jury bias was incorrect and set a dangerous precedent. He believed that there was no clear evidence of racial prejudice influencing the jury’s verdict or sentencing decision in this case. The mere fact that all jurors were white did not automatically mean they were biased against Maxwell, who was black. Furthermore, he criticized the majority for using social science research about racial attitudes as legal evidence of potential bias among jurors from different races - an approach he considered speculative and inappropriate for court decisions. Lastly, Justice Harlan expressed concern over how this ruling could undermine public confidence in judicial processes by suggesting that juries cannot be trusted to make fair decisions based on law and facts alone.