18 USC § 243 - Exclusion of jurors on account of race or color

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s243"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "18 USC § 243 - Exclusion of jurors on account of race or color"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
section_number: "243"
section_name: "Exclusion of jurors on account of race or color"
chapter_number: 13
chapter_name: "CIVIL RIGHTS"
part_number: "I"
part_name: "CRIMES"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-21"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 696.)"
---


# § 243. Exclusion of jurors on account of race or color

No citizen possessing all other qualifications which are or may be prescribed by law shall be disqualified for service as grand or petit juror in any court of the United States, or of any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and whoever, being an officer or other person charged with any duty in the selection or summoning of jurors, excludes or fails to summon any citizen for such cause, shall be fined not more than $5,000.

---

**Source Credit**: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 696.)

### Historical and Revision Notes

Based on , U.S.C., 1940 ed., Aliens and Nationality (, ).

Words “be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and” were deleted as unnecessary in view of definition of misdemeanor in .

Words “on conviction thereof” were omitted as unnecessary, since punishment follows only after conviction.

Minimum punishment provisions were omitted. (See reviser’s note under .)

Minor changes in phraseology were made.