"To exclude all jurors who would be in the slightest way affected by the prospect of the death penalty would be to deprive the defendant of the impartial jury to which he or she is entitled under the law"
About this Quote
The specific intent is constitutional triage. White is weighing the Sixth Amendment promise of an impartial jury against the state`s desire for a panel comfortable with capital punishment. His argument exposes a quiet asymmetry in death-penalty jury selection: if you exclude anyone who might hesitate, you don`t get neutrality; you get a pre-committed audience. The subtext is bracingly pragmatic: the law isn`t served by purging moral doubt, because moral doubt is part of what makes deliberation real rather than mechanical.
Context matters: White wrote in an era when the Supreme Court was trying to regulate the death penalty without abolishing it, wrestling with "death qualification" and the risk that jury selection becomes outcome selection. The rhetorical move is deceptively simple: he flips the usual concern. The threat to impartiality isn`t the juror who feels conflicted; it`s the system that treats conflict as disqualification. In a capital trial, that`s not soft-heartedness. It`s due process.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
White, Byron. (2026, January 17). To exclude all jurors who would be in the slightest way affected by the prospect of the death penalty would be to deprive the defendant of the impartial jury to which he or she is entitled under the law. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-exclude-all-jurors-who-would-be-in-the-64283/
Chicago Style
White, Byron. "To exclude all jurors who would be in the slightest way affected by the prospect of the death penalty would be to deprive the defendant of the impartial jury to which he or she is entitled under the law." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-exclude-all-jurors-who-would-be-in-the-64283/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"To exclude all jurors who would be in the slightest way affected by the prospect of the death penalty would be to deprive the defendant of the impartial jury to which he or she is entitled under the law." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-exclude-all-jurors-who-would-be-in-the-64283/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.
