Campbell v. Louisiana, 523 U.S. 392, 10 (1998)

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Cite as: 523 U. S. 392 (1998)

Opinion of the Court

though a majority of Justices could not agree on a comprehensive statement of the rule or an appropriate remedy for any violation. See 407 U. S. 493, 504 (1972) (opinion of Marshall, J.) ("[W]hatever his race, a criminal defendant has standing to challenge the system used to select his grand . . . jury, on the ground that it arbitrarily excludes . . . members of any race, and thereby denies him due process of law"); id., at 507 (White, J., joined by Brennan and Powell, JJ., concurring in judgment) ("[T]he strong statutory policy of [18 U. S. C.] § 243, which reflects the central concern of the Fourteenth Amendment" permits a white defendant to challenge discrimination in grand jury selection). Our more recent decision in Hobby v. United States proceeded on the implied assumption that a white defendant had standing to raise a due process objection to discriminatory appointment of a federal grand jury foreperson and skipped ahead to the question whether a remedy was available. 468 U. S., at 350. It is unnecessary here to discuss the nature and full extent of due process protection in the context of grand jury selection. That issue, to the extent it is still open based upon our earlier precedents, should be determined on the merits, assuming a court finds it necessary to reach the point in light of the concomitant equal protection claim. The relevant assumption of Hobby, and our holding here, is that a defendant has standing to litigate whether his conviction was procured by means or procedures which contravene due process.

The Louisiana Supreme Court erred in reading Hobby to foreclose Campbell's standing to bring a due process challenge. 661 So. 2d, at 1324. In Hobby, we held discrimination in the selection of a federal grand jury foreperson did not infringe principles of fundamental fairness because the foreperson's duties were "ministerial." See Hobby, supra, at 345-346. In this case, the Louisiana Supreme Court decided a Louisiana grand jury foreperson's duties were minis-terial too, but then couched its decision in terms of Camp-

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