Louisiana Voters Could Undo Jim Crow-Era Jury Law

Louisiana voters next month can do at the ballot box what lawyers couldn’t at the U.S. Supreme Court: overturn a Jim Crow-era law that allows non-unanimous jury verdicts.

It’s one of several weighty criminal justice provisions at stake in voting booths across the country in this heated election season.

The Pelican State and Oregon are the only two states that still allow convictions by less than a full complement of jurors. The U.S. Constitution only requires unanimity in federal trials, the high court ruled in challenges from those states in the early 1970s.

Louisiana’s constitution allows just 10 of 12 ...