Statutory Challenges to Jury Selection Procedures.

The Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968 (JSSA) sets forth guidelines for selecting grand and petit juries in federal courts. The JSSA requires each judicial district to devise a plan for randomly selecting jurors based on voter registration rolls or lists of actual voters.

To prove a violation of the JSSA, a defendant must show that the district's plan substantially failed to comply with the JSSA. Violation of the JSSA may also constitute a violation of the constitutional fair-cross-section requirement. Similar to a fair-cross-section claim, the government can rebut a prima facie showing of a JSSA violation by showing that the disproportionate exclusion of a distinctive group manifestly and primarily advances a significant government interest. A court will not entertain a challenge to the jury selection system under the JSSA if a defendant does not follow the statutory procedures.