WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide whether jurors’ claims of racially charged comments by another juror can overcome the need for secrecy in jury deliberations.

The justices are agreeing Monday to hear an appeal from a Hispanic man in Colorado who says he did not have a fair trial because a juror made offensive comments about Mexicans.

The remarks came to light when two other jurors told the defendant’s lawyer about them. Courts rarely allow jurors to reveal what went on during their deliberations.

But defendant Miguel Angel Pena Rodriguez argues that the comments were so bad they deprived him of his constitutional right to trial by an impartial jury.

The high court will hear the case in the fall.