Law Practice,
Ethics/Professional Responsibility,
Civil Rights
Mar. 22, 2021
To end racial discrimination in jury selection, abolish peremptory challenges
Study after study after study shows that peremptory challenges are used to discriminate against people of color, Batson notwithstanding.
Thomas J. Umberg
Phone: (949) 679-0052
Email: tumberg@umbergzipser.com
Senator Thomas J. Umberg is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and represents Senate District 34. Umberg is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, former federal prosecutor and small businessman.
In issuing its landmark 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky, the U.S. Supreme Court sought to eliminate racial bias in jury selection by providing parties the right to object to opposing parties' peremptory challenges. But, as Justice Thurgood Marshall famously observed in his concurring opinion in the case, "[t]he decision today will not end the racial discrimination that peremptories inject into the jury-selection process. That goal can b...
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