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Constitution of the United States/Art. III/Sec. 2/Clause 3 Trials
Article III Judicial Branch
Section 2 Justiciability
Clause 3 Trials
| Clause Text |
|---|
| The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed. |
Jury Trials
Article III, Section 2, Clause 3 is one of two constitutional provisions--the other being the Sixth Amendment--that provide a right to jury trial in federal criminal cases.[1] In addition to providing such a right generally in all criminal cases except impeachment cases,[2] this Clause also specifies the venue in which a trial must take place: in the state where the crime was committed, or at a place directed by Congress if the crime was not committed within any states.[3] The Sixth Amendment later further imposed other requirements related to the right, including that the trial be speedy and public, and that the trial take place before a jury summoned from the state and district in which the crime was committed.[4]
On June 15, 2023, the Supreme Court decided Smith v. United States[5], a case involving whether the Double Jeopardy Clause prevents retrial of a defendant tried and convicted in an improper venue, or by a jury from the wrong district, in violation of the Constitution's Venue and Vicinage Clauses, respectively.[6] The Court distinguished between judicial decisions of improper venue and verdicts of acquittal, noting that the Court in earlier decisions recognized no protection from retrial when a trial terminates "on a basis unrelated to factual guilt or innocence of the offence of which [the defendant] is accused."[7] Accordingly, the Court found that the Double Jeopardy clause did not bar retrial in a proper venue.
- ↑ The Supreme Court has held that the Sixth Amendment's right to jury, including the requirement that a jury verdict be unanimous, applies to states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145 (1968); see also Ramos v. Louisiana, No. 18-5924, slip op. at 7 (U.S. 2020) (holding that the Sixth Amendment's requirement of a unanimous verdict applies to states through the Fourteenth Amendment).
- ↑ The Supreme Court, however, has long held that the guarantees of jury trial under Article III, Section 2, Clause 3 and the Sixth Amendment do not apply to petty offenses because at the time of the Constitution's adoption, such offenses were tried summarily without a jury under common law. See Cheff v. Schnackenberg, 384 U.S. 373, 378-79 (1966).
- ↑ Art. III, Section 2 Justiciability.
- ↑ Sixth Amendment Rights in Criminal Prosecutions; see generally Sixth Amendment Rights in Criminal Prosecutions.
- ↑ Smith v. United States, No. 21-1576 (U.S. June 15, 2023).
- ↑ See generally Art. III, Sec. 2, Clause 3 Trials; Fifth Amendment Rights of Persons; Sixth Amendment Rights in Criminal Prosecutions.
- ↑ Smith, 15 (citing United States v. Scott, 437 U.S. 82, 99 (1978) (alteration in original)).
