Peremptory challenges do not require attorneys to state any reason to excuse a juror. Peremptory challenges are intended to allow lawyers to do both. Peremptory challenges are intended to allow attorneys, both in the prosecution and in the defense, to do everything possible to ensure that the trial is fair. In most cases, peremptory challenges are limited to three per party. This information is used to eliminate unfavorable jurors by exercising cautionary and peremptory challenges.
There are two basic differences between a challenge on the basis of cause and a peremptory challenge. First, the challenge for just cause requires a legal basis for the disqualification of a juror, such as bias, the inability to understand the trial or to communicate with jurors. Usually, an attorney can resort to a peremptory challenge without giving a reason. Second, the number of justifiable challenges available to attorneys is unlimited, while the number of peremptory challenges is limited by law.
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When selecting a jury, both parties can dismiss potential jurors using an unlimited number of challenges for just cause (for example, in the trial of James Kirkland Batson for theft and receipt of stolen property), the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to remove the four African-Americans from the jury. Batson challenged the removal of these jurors for violating their Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The jury convicted the petitioner on both counts. On appeal, the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the convictions.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Does using peremptory challenges to remove a potential juror on the basis of race violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution? A defendant in a criminal case may file a demand for equal protection based on the discriminatory use of peremptory challenges in a defendant's trial. Once the defendant demonstrates that race was the reason potential jurors were excluded, the burden falls on the state to present a racially neutral explanation for the exclusion. White, J. Marshall, J.Judge Marshall stated that, under the current system, prosecutors remain free to discriminate whenever it's not obvious, and trial courts face the difficult burden of evaluating the prosecutor's motives.
Stevens, J. (Judge Stevens) stated that the demand for equal protection had been duly filed with the Court, although it was not initially filed by the petitioner, because the party defending the judgment explicitly relied on the issue as a basis for confirming the state court's decision. O'Connor, J.) Judge O'Connor wrote to agree that the announced rule does not apply retroactively. The state of Alabama, acting on behalf of the boy, J, T.The state used its peremptory challenges to remove nine of the 10 potential male jurors from the jury.
J, E, B. As a result, all of the jury members selected were women. He held that the state's use of peremptory recusal to exclude nearly all male jurors violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The jury determined that the petitioner was the father of the child and the court issued an order ordering him to pay child support.
The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals upheld this and the Alabama Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Does recourse to peremptory challenges to eliminate a potential juror because of their gender violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution? Blackmun, J. The Court concluded that gender discrimination in jury selection does not contribute substantially to the State's legitimate interest in achieving a fair and impartial trial. O'Connor, J) Judge O'Connor agreed with the Court's conclusion that the state's reasons for excluding jurors on the basis of gender were far from being overly persuasive, but stated that the Court's conclusion should be limited to the government's use of peremptory gender-based attacks.
Judge O'Connor noted the increased burden posed by additional constitutional restrictions on recourse to peremptory challenges. In light of the importance of the peremptory challenge and the increasing burden imposed by the majority position, Judge O'Connor argues that the analysis of the Equal Protection Clause should only apply to discrimination by state actors, that is, the prosecution. Kennedy, J.Judge Kennedy also wrote that it is important to recognize that a juror does not act as a representative of a racial or sexual group but as an individual citizen. Nothing would be more pernicious to the jury system if society presumes that people from different backgrounds come to the jury room to express their prejudices.
Rehnquist, C, J. Specifically, the President of the Supreme Court noted that racial groups constitute numerical minorities in society, while the population is divided almost equally between men and women. It also argues that racial equality has proven to be a more difficult goal to achieve on many fronts than gender equality. Finally, he affirms that the two sexes differ, both biologically and in experience; therefore, it is not simply a matter of “stereotyping” to say that these differences can produce a difference in perspective that is brought to the jury room.
Consequently, recourse to the peremptory challenge based on sex is not the type of derogatory and insulting act that can constitute the peremptory challenge addressed to black juries. Scalia, J.) Judge Scalia argues that much of the majority debate about prejudice against women is irrelevant because the case involves state action against men. In addition, it states that the conclusion impairs the entire nature of the peremptory challenge system, as well as the entire judicial system, due to the need for an explanation and the increased possibility of a collateral review of the jury selection process. How do federal judges influence individual rights every day, even for people who may never enter a courtroom? Ten federal judges answer that question and others, explaining their commitment to impartiality, the Constitution and the rule of law.
If you have a case before a higher court and you believe that you cannot obtain a fair and impartial hearing or trial before the judge, commissioner, or arbitrator assigned to your case, article 170.6 of the California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) gives you the right to disqualify it without having to prove any reason. This is called a peremptory challenge. During the selection process, an attorney can excuse you for a specific reason. This is called a justified cause challenge.
A lawyer can also excuse you for no reason. If this happens, don't take it personally. The lawyer is limited to exercising a right granted by law. A just cause challenge means that the lawyer has a specific reason to think that a juror could not be impartial. This process involves both the judge and the lawyers of both parties questioning potential jurors (prosecution and defense in a criminal case or plaintiff and defendant in a civil case).
If a juror has had an accident with a drunk driver and is still upset about it, the defense attorney can ask that the juror apologize for that reason. In criminal cases where the maximum sentence is 90 days in jail, the number of peremptory challenges available is six per lawyer. Mastering the selection of the jury by a civil or criminal defense attorney is a skill that is acquired when conducting many trials. In death penalty or life imprisonment cases involving a single defendant, each lawyer is entitled to 20 peremptory challenges.
A just cause challenge is used when an attorney discovers that a potential juror does not meet the legal requirements to serve as a juror or cannot be fair or impartial. Because an attorney is allowed an unlimited number of challenges for good cause, attorneys prefer to use a challenge for cause because it allows the lawyer to preserve the limited number of peremptory challenges.