Snyder v. Louisiana (2007)
- Docket
- 06-10119
- Decided
- 2007-01-01
Summary
Question: Did the state's dismissal by peremptory challenge of all of the black potential jurors, combined with the prosecution's comparisons of the case to the O.J. Simpson trial, amount to a violation of the Equal Protection Clause? Conclusion: The Court reversed the Louisiana Supreme Court in a 7-2 majority opinion written by Justice Samuel A. Alito. Alito concluded that the trial judge had acted improperly in allowing the peremptory strikes of the black jurors, pointing out that the reasons given by the prosecution for striking the jurors applied equally well to the white jurors the prosecution chose to keep. Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, filed a dissenting opinion, arguing that Batson does not require the exacting scrutiny imposed on the trial judge by the majority.