The challenges of either party for cause need not all be taken at once, but they may be taken separately, in the following order, including in each challenge all the causes of challenge belonging to the same class and type:
§ 227.Challenges for cause
Title 3. Persons Specially Invested With Powers of a Judicial Nature · Chapter 1. Trial Jury Selection and Management Act · Enacted 1988 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 227 lets a party bring its for-cause challenges separately, but requires each round to cover all the grounds within a single class before moving to the next, in the fixed order: to the panel, then general disqualification, implied bias, and actual bias.
Full Text of § 227
(a) To the panel.
(b) To an individual juror, for a general disqualification.
(c) To an individual juror, for an implied bias.
(d) To an individual juror, for an actual bias.
Plain-English Summary
Section 227 sets the order for raising for-cause challenges. A party does not have to lodge every for-cause challenge at once; the challenges may be taken separately, but each round must include every ground of challenge belonging to the same class and type before the party moves to the next class.
The order itself runs: first, a challenge to the panel; then, to an individual juror, a challenge for general disqualification; then a challenge for implied bias; and finally a challenge for actual bias. That sequencing keeps challenges from being scattered across rounds in a way that would make the process harder to track.
Frequently Asked Questions
In what order are for-cause jury challenges raised in California?
Section 227 sets the order as a challenge to the panel, then general disqualification, then implied bias, then actual bias.
Do all for-cause challenges have to be raised at the same time?
No. They may be taken separately, but each round must include all the grounds belonging to the same class and type.
Can a party raise an implied-bias challenge before finishing its general-disqualification challenges?
Section 227 requires each round to exhaust one class of challenge, here general disqualification, before the party moves on to the next class, here implied bias.
Amendment History
Added Stats 1988 ch 1245 § 2.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: order of for cause challenges californiageneral disqualification implied bias actual bias ordersequence of jury challenges californiachallenges for cause procedure california