The Jury Act scrapped the "key man" system of "blue ribbon juries," in which jury commissioners typically solicited the names of "men of recognized intelligence and probity" from notables or "key men" of the community.
The Jury Act provides that each United States District Court shall create a list of names of prospective jurors, culled from voter registration lists or lists of actual voters, and supplemented through other sources of names if necessary to achieve a fair cross section of the community and prevent discrimination.