Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts Remain Strangely Clear-Eyed About One Kind of Racism

Pitchford v. Cain involved a Black teenager in Mississippi charged with capital murder and facing the death penalty after a robbery in which another teenager shot and killed the store owner. The state tried the defendants separately, and the shooter received a plea deal with a 20-year sentence. During Pitchford’s trial, prosecutors used peremptory strikes to remove Black jurors. Two Mississippi courts allowed the strikes and prevented the defense from objecting to them. The Supreme Court held that this process violated constitutional protections against racial discrimination in jury selection. The decision was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s three liberals, reversing the lower courts’ handling of the jury-selection objections.

"In a 5-4 decision joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's three liberals, Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained how two Mississippi courts violated the Constitution by allowing criminal prosecutors to strike Black jurors from the courtroom, then preventing the defense's lawyers from objecting to the strikes. The ruling, Pitchford v. Cain, is an important victory for Terry Pitchford and others like him who have been overprosecuted by Southern state governments."

"Pitchford was a Black teenager who, in 2004, robbed a grocery store in Mississippi. He was joined in the robbery by another Black teenager, Eric Bullins. After they were arrested, the differences between Bullins and Pitchford proved key in the way the cases played out. Bullins was 16, and Pitchford was 18; it was Bullins, not Pitchford, who shot and killed the white store owner during the robbery."

"Jury selection can win or lose a case in racially charged criminal matters. That's why it's so important that in 1986's Batson v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court affirmed that the 14 th Amendment bars prosecutors from selecting or striking jurors based on race. When Pitchford's case went to trial, Mississippi prosecutor Doug Evans tried to use his allotted"

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