In the case of Smith v. Mississippi in 1962, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a matter concerning jury selection and racial discrimination. The petitioner, Smith, an African American man convicted for rape by an all-white jury in Mississippi state court argued that his Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated due to systematic exclusion of black people from juries. His appeal was based on evidence showing that no African Americans had served on any type of jury in Jackson County for over 30 years despite making up a significant portion of the population eligible for jury service. However, both lower courts rejected this argument stating there was insufficient proof to demonstrate intentional racial discrimination during juror selection process. The Supreme Court reversed these decisions holding that such consistent exclusion indicated discriminatory practices violating equal protection clause under Fourteenth Amendment regardless if it resulted from purposeful design or not. The court stated "When a pattern of conduct shows continuous and unexplained absence of Negroes from petit-jury lists over long periods," then it is reasonable to conclude there has been deliberate exclusion based on race which infringes upon constitutional rights.

In the dissenting opinion for Smith v. Mississippi, Justice Hugo Black argued that the petitioner's constitutional rights were violated due to an unfair trial process. He contended that the jury selection was biased as it excluded African Americans and women, thus not representing a cross-section of community peers. Additionally, he criticized the use of confessions obtained under duress or without proper legal counsel present during interrogation as evidence in court proceedings. This practice contradicted his interpretation of Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination and Sixth Amendment guarantees to effective assistance of counsel during critical stages like police interrogations. Furthermore, he believed that these violations significantly impacted the outcome of Smith's case leading to a death sentence verdict which could have been different if conducted fairly according to constitutional standards.