Hugo Black

“ Under our system of government such amendments cannot constitutionally be made by judges but only by the action of Congress and the people. Depriving defendants of jury trials prior to Duncan violated the Constitution just as much as would similar deprivations after that decision, yet this Court treats these equal deprivation with clearly unequal justice. I cannot agree to such refusals to apply what appear to me to be the clear commends of the Constitution. ”

“ I can see no basis whatsoever in the language of the Constitution for allowing persons like appellant the benefit of those rights and yet denying them a jury trial, a right which is surely one of the fundamental aspects of criminal justice in the English-speaking world. ”

“ In February 1968 appellant, who was then 17 years old, was charged under the laws of Nebraska with being a 'delinquent child' [1] because he had a forged bank check which he intended to use for his own purposes. [2] At the hearing on this charge he asked for a jury trial, arguing that this was a right guaranteed him by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution and that a statute prohibitng juries in 'delinquency' proceedings [3] was therefore unconstitutional. ”