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Curtis Giovanni Flowers v. Mississippi
IFP petition · Supreme Court of Mississippi, No. 2010-DP-01348-SCT · judgment November 2, 2017
Question presented
Petitioner Curtis Flowers has been tried six times for the same off in Mississippi state court. Through the first four trials, prosecutor Doug Evans relentlessly removed as many qualified African American jurors as he could. He struck all ten African Americans who came up for consideration during the first two trials, and he used all twenty-six of his allotted strikes against African Americans at the third and fourth trials. (The fifth jury hung on guilt-orinnocence and strike information is not in the available record). Along the way, Evans was twice adjudicated to have violated Batson v. Kentucky - once by the trial judge during the second trial, and once by the Mississippi Supreme Court after the third trial. At the sixth trial Evans accepted the first qualified African American, then struck the remaining five. When Flowers challenged those strikes on direct appeal, a divided Mississippi Supreme Court reviewed Evans' proffered explanations for the strikes deferentially and without taking into account his extensive record of discrimination in this case, and affirmed. Flowers then sought review here, asking: "Whether a prosecutor's history of adjudicated purposeful race discrimination must be considered when assessing the credibility of his proffered explanations for peremptory strikes against minority prospective jurors?" This Court responded by granting certiorari, vacating the Mississippi Supreme Court's judgment, and remanding "for further consideration in light of Foster v. Chatman, 136 S. Ct. 1737 (2016)." Flowers v. Mississippi, 136 S. Ct. 2157 (2016). On remand, a divided Mississippi Supreme Court again affirmed. Over three dissents, the state court majority emphasized deference to the trial court, and insisted both that the "[t] he prior adjudications of the violation of Batson do not undermine Evans' race neutral reasons," and that "the historical evidence of past discrimination ... does not alter our analysis ...'' Flowers v. Mississippi, 240 So.3d 1082, 1124 (Miss. 2018). The state court majority then repeated, nearly word-for-word, its previous, history-blind evaluation of Evans' strikes. Because a prosecutor's personal history of verified, adjudicated discrimination is highly probative of both his propensity to discriminate and his willingness to mask that discrimination with false explanations at Batson's third step, the barely altered question presented is: Whether a prosecutor's history of adjudicated purposeful race discrimination may be dismissed as irrelevant when assessing the credibility of his proffered explanations for peremptory strikes against minority prospective jurors? GRANTED LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: WHETHER THE MISSISSIPPI SUPREME COURT ERRED IN HOW IT APPLIED BATSON v. KENTUCKY, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) IN THIS CASE.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Sheri Lynn Johnson
Cornell Law School
For respondent
Jason Lewis Davis
Mississippi Attorney General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage · 2 merits
(2 supporting pet./neither)
Argument & decision
Argued March 20, 2019 — Sheri Lynn Johnson · Jason Davis. Audio and transcript
Decided June 21, 2019. Opinion by Kavanaugh.
Proceedings
- Nov 06 2019MANDATE ISSUED.
- Jul 23 2019MANDATE ISSUED.
- Jul 23 2019JUDGMENT ISSUED.
- Jun 21 2019Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Kavanaugh, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Alito, J., filed a concurring opinion. Thomas, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Gorsuch, J., joined as to Parts I, II, and III.
- Mar 20 2019Argued. For petitioner: Sheri Lynn Johnson, Ithaca, N. Y. For respondent: Jason Davis, Special Assistant Attorney General, Jackson, Miss.
- Mar 07 2019Reply of petitioner Curtis Flowers filed. (Distributed)
- Feb 26 2019Record received from the Supreme Court of Mississippi is electronic and complete.
- Feb 14 2019CIRCULATED
- Feb 07 2019Brief of respondent State of Mississippi filed.
- Jan 25 2019SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, March 20, 2019
- Jan 15 2019Motion to extend the time to file respondent's brief on the merits is granted to and including February 7, 2019.
- Jan 08 2019Motion of respondent for an extension of time filed.
- Jan 03 2019Brief amici curiae of Former Justice Department Officials filed.
- Dec 27 2018Brief amicus curiae of NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. filed.
- Dec 27 2018Joint appendix filed (2 Volumes). (Statement of costs filed)
- Dec 27 2018Brief of petitioner Curtis Flowers filed.
- Nov 27 2018Motion to extend the time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits granted and the time is extended to and including December 27, 2018.
- Nov 20 2018Motion for an extension of time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits filed.
- Nov 02 2018Motion to proceed in forma pauperis and petition for a writ of certiorari GRANTED limited to the following question: Whether the Mississippi Supreme Court erred in how it applied Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (1986), in this case.
- Oct 29 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/2/2018.
- Oct 11 2018DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/26/2018.
- Oct 09 2018Reply of petitioner Curtis Flowers filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 27 2018Brief of respondent Mississippi in opposition filed.
- Aug 23 2018Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including September 26, 2018.
- Aug 20 2018Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 27, 2018 to September 26, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jul 26 2018Brief amici curiae of Magnolia Bar Association, Mississippi Center for Justice, and Innocence Project New Orleans filed.
- Jul 20 2018Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 27, 2018.
- Jul 17 2018Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 26, 2018 to August 27, 2018, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jun 22 2018Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due July 26, 2018)
- May 02 2018Application (17A1205) granted by Justice Alito extending the time to file until June 22, 2018.
- Apr 30 2018Application (17A1205) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from May 23, 2018 to July 7, 2018, submitted to Justice Alito.