MarySusan Ward v. Louisville Metro Government

This Court in Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79

1. held that the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment prohibited litigants in state court criminal trials from using peremptory challenges to exclude jurors based solely on race. However, in addressing how to remediate a violation, this Court expressed: “no view on whether it is more appropriate in a particular case . . . for the trial court to discharge the venire and select a new jury from a panel not previously associated with the case, (citation omitted) or to disallow the discriminatory challenges and resume selection with the improperly challenged jurors reinstated on the venire. (citations omitted).” Id. at 99-100 n. 24. The questions presented are thus:

2. Whether the constitutional principles underlying Batson require trial courts to craft a meaningful remedy when a violation occurs in order to dissuade the discriminatory use of peremptory challenges such that a trial court may insulate a discriminated juror from the random drawdown requirements of a state procedural rule.

3. Whether the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, U.S. CONST., art. VI, § 2, prevents a state procedural rule from standing as an obstacle to the constitutional mandate that a trial court craft a meaningful Batson remedy.