That's the title of an editorial in today's Los Angeles Times on the Supreme Court ruling in Snyder v. Louisiana. LINK
Welcome as this ruling is, it won't prevent prosecutors in innumerable other cases from concealing racial bias in jury selection. The way to end that abuse, as Justice Stephen G. Breyer argued in a 2005 case, is to do away with all peremptory challenges, requiring prosecutors and defense attorneys alike to challenge jurors only for cause. The court should use its authority under the Constitution to mandate that change the next time it encounters a case in which a challenge for "no reason" is a challenge for the worst reason of all.
The Concord Monitor reports, "Savoring his contribution," about a New Hampshire law student's involvement in the case.
A 26-year-old Franklin Pierce Law Center student helped rescue a Louisiana man from death row this week. He aided lawyers in the case to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that the trial of Allen Snyder, a black man accused of killing his wife's lover, was tainted because a state prosecutor kept blacks off the jury.
Fred Millett arrived this past fall for his internship at the anti-death penalty Southern Center for Human Rights at the perfect time. The lead lawyer in Snyder's appeal, Stephen Bright, was about to file his first brief. Millett, who'd always been interested in the death penalty, offered to edit it for him.
Bright was impressed with Millett and asked him to stay on the case. Millett was back at Franklin Pierce on Wednesday, doing homework, when he heard about the high court's decision.
"I started running around and telling anyone I knew, 'Snyder! We won Snyder!' " Millett said yesterday. "Some people were like, 'Yeah!' Some people were like, 'What are you talking about?' "
Millett, a third-year student at Franklin Pierce, gave up on his homework for the afternoon. "I was like, 'Screw this,' " he said. "I just helped win a Supreme Court case. I helped save a man's life today."
Earlier coverage of Snyder v. Louisiana is here.
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