This series, The Untold Stories of the Civil Rights Movement, is where I look at some of the most important civil rights cases. I quickly unpack their stories and why I believe they are significant. This series is an adaption to an ad hoc seminar I created while a student at Duke University School of Law.
This week I look at Batson v. Kentucky (1986), which deals with preventing black people from serving on the jury. In this case, James K Batson was charged with two counts of burglary and receipt of stolen property. During his trial the prosecutor, a white man, struck all the black people from the potential jury pool. Batson was convicted by an all white jury and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He appealed his case to the US Supreme Court arguing that the use of what’s called a “peremptory challenge” to remove all the black people from the potential jury pool violated his 6th Amendment’s right to a fair trial and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. What emerged from this case is what’s now known as the Batson Rule. Watch to find out what that is exactly and to discover the remarkable way this story ended.
Resources:
Oral Argument – https://www.oyez.org/cases/1985/84-6263
“War on Jails” by James Batson – https://www.amazon.com/War-Jails-Enlighten-James-Batson-ebook/dp/B07965WM98
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Until Next Time
–Palooke–
