Supreme Court cases on jury size and unanimity requirements

Williams v. Florida,  399 U.S. 78 (1970) held that a twelve person jury is not required under the Sixth Amendment in a criminal case.

Apodaca v. Oregon, 406 U.S. 404 (1972) held that a unanimous verdict is not constitutionally required in a criminal case, and that a guilty verdict agreed to by nine of twelve jurors is acceptable.

Colgrove v. Battin,  413 U.S. 149 (1973) held that a six-person jury is constitutional for a civil case in federal court.

Ballew v. Georgia, 435 U.S. 223 (1978) held that a five-person jury in a criminal case is unconstitutional.

Burch v. Louisiana, 441 U.S. 130 (1979) held that a verdict for conviction with a six-person jury must be unanimous.

 Note: there are some configurations states have not tried, and thus the Court has never decided whether they are constitutional: 1) a guilty verdict agreed to by less than nine members of a twelve-person jury; 2) a non-unanimous guilty verdict for jury sizes from seven to eleven (jury sizes in criminal cases other than six or twelve are rare: only Virginia currently uses a seven-person jury (misdemeanor cases—unanimity required); and eight-person juries are used only Arizona (in many felony cases—unanimity required) and Ohio (misdemeanor cases—unanimity required)); no state uses juries of nine, ten, or eleven persons).

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