Cite as: 528 U. S. 304 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
F. 3d 1240, 1245-1246 (CA10 1998); United States v. Farmer, 923 F. 2d 1557, 1566 (CA11 1991).1 We granted certiorari, 527 U. S. 1021 (1999), and now reverse the Ninth Circuit's judgment.
II
The peremptory challenge is part of our common-law heritage. Its use in felony trials was already venerable in Blackstone's time. See 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries 346- 348 (1769). We have long recognized the role of the peremptory challenge in reinforcing a defendant's right to trial by an impartial jury. See, e. g., Swain v. Alabama, 380 U. S. 202, 212-213, 218-219 (1965); Pointer v. United States, 151 U. S. 396, 408 (1894). But we have long recognized, as well, that such challenges are auxiliary; unlike the right to an impartial jury guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, peremptory challenges are not of federal constitutional dimension. Ross, 487 U. S., at 88; see Stilson v. United States, 250 U. S. 583, 586 (1919) ("There is nothing in the Constitution of the United States which requires the Congress to grant peremptory challenges.").
Legislative provision for peremptory challenges in federal criminal trials dates from 1790. See Act of Apr. 30, 1790, ch. 9, § 30, 1 Stat. 119. Since 1946, Rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure has provided the governing instructions. That Rule, reproduced in its entirety below,2
1 There is a corresponding conflict among the Circuits in civil cases. Compare Kirk v. Raymark Industries, Inc., 61 F. 3d 147, 157 (CA3 1995) (right to peremptory challenge is impaired when a party exercises such a challenge to strike a prospective juror who should have been removed for cause), with Getter v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 66 F. 3d 1119, 1122-1123 (CA10 1995) (no impairment).
2 Rule 24. Trial Jurors.
"(a) Examination. The court may permit the defendant or the defend-ant's attorney and the attorney for the government to conduct the examination of prospective jurors or may itself conduct the examination. In the latter event the court shall permit the defendant or the defendant's attorney and the attorney for the government to supplement the examina-
311
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