In the case of Taylor et al. v. Louisiana, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a state law excluding women from jury service unless they had previously filed a written declaration of their desire to serve was unconstitutional. The court held that this practice violated the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury trial and his Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law because it resulted in juries that were almost entirely male and therefore not representative of the community. This decision overturned previous rulings which upheld such laws on grounds of protecting women from unpleasant or disturbing cases, stating instead that potential hardship could not justify gender discrimination in jury selection.

The dissenting opinion in the Taylor v. Louisiana case argued that the majority's decision to invalidate a state law excluding women from jury service unless they voluntarily registered was an overreach of judicial power. The dissenters believed that this issue should be left to individual states and their legislatures, not decided by federal courts. They contended that there were valid reasons for allowing states to decide whether or not women should serve on juries, including potential burdens related to family responsibilities. Furthermore, they disagreed with the majority's interpretation of "a fair cross-section of the community," arguing it did not necessarily mean every group must be represented proportionally on every jury panel but rather each group must have equal opportunity for representation.