James Batson had requested an appeale with the Kentucky Supreme Court. This is when not only Batson’s sixth amendment rights were being questioned but also his fourteenth amendment rights. This is when the Swain v. Alabama case was discussed. The courts stayed firm on their decision stating that the defense must prove that there was an absence of fair cross section as a result of discriminatory challenges over an extended time frame (Beckley). The court reviewed the case from the Jefferson Circuit Court in Kentucky and confirmed that the conviction was accurate based on the evidence and witness statements. They also chose not to depend on the Swain case as a reliable argument made by the defense. The courts also felt that the judgment from the previous hearing was justifiable based on the voir dire process …show more content…
Supreme Court to reevaluate Batson’s appeal they first had to reopen the Swain V Alabama case due to the fact that the defense used this case as part of their appeal. While investigating the Swain case, the US Supreme Court discovered that the prosecution used their peremptory challenges to eliminate six African Americans from the jury venire (Swain v. Alabama, 1965). In the Swain case the courts identified that the prosecution purposefully eliminated those potential jurors due to the sole fact that they were African American. This was a complete violation of Swain’s right to Equal Protection Clause (Weatherspoon, 295). The U.S. Supreme Court also used the Strauder v. West Virginia (1880) case to evaluate the persistent use of racial discrimination by the government. West Virginia statute had still states that a Jury could only consist of white men. The U.S. Supreme Court has since made state laws current with the times in response to the racial discrimination of jurors. Strauder did not have the right to a partial or whole jury of his race but did have the right to be tried by a non-discriminatory jury (Strauder v. West Virginia,