ABSTRACT
In Batson v. Kentucky (1986), the US Supreme Court decided that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury, as applied to the states by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, was further limited by the Equal Protection Clause of that amendment so as to prevent racial bias in seating a jury. In Batson, the African American defendant was tried and convicted for second-degree burglary and receipt of stolen goods. In Batson, the African American defendant was tried and convicted for second-degree burglary and receipt of stolen goods. The Court previously had considered the factor of racial exclusion from juries. In Strauder v. West Virginia, the Court struck down a conviction of a black defendant when African Americans were completely excluded from the jury pool. Batson made such proof easier. In Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., the Court subsequently extended the Batson precedent to civil cases.
