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7th Amendment Does Not Prevent ‘Directed Verdict’

1943

In Galloway v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal judges are allowed to reject the verdict of the jury and direct that another verdict be entered – a procedure called a “directed verdict” – if the judge concludes that there is not sufficient evidence to support the jury’s decision. An angry dissent by three justices criticizes the ruling. They argue that it is part of a long history in which the Court “has slowly worn away a major portion of the essential guarantee of the Seventh Amendment.”