Outdated and Unconstitutional: Rethinking Duration of Residency Requirements for Jury Service
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Authors
Edwards, Barry C.
Issue Date
2025-12
Volume
59
Issue
1
Type
Journal Article
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Abstract
This article addresses a critical, yet largely overlooked, defect in the jury selection process: the categorical exclusion of new residents from jury service. Federal and state laws imposing one-year residency requirements violate the constitutional right to an impartial jury and undermine the legitimacy of the jury system. Rooted in outdated assumptions about community attachment and juror competence, these requirements persist without empirical support or meaningful judicial scrutiny. Courts have upheld them based on contradictory rationales and outdated analysis from the 1970s, leaving this area of law stagnant, despite evolving juror selection procedures and increasing societal mobility. Affecting roughly five percent of the population, one-year residency requirements arbitrarily exclude fresh and unbiased perspectives from all federal jury trials and jury trials in five states, compromising the representativeness of jury pools and eroding public confidence in the justice system. This article argues for a long-overdue reassessment of these exclusions and advocates for constitutional standards that reflect modern realities, ensuring that juries embody a true cross-section of the communities they serve.
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Publisher
Creighton University School of Law