Trial lawyers aren’t allowed to strike jury members based solely on race (called a “Batson violation”), and if questioned they have to be ready to provide race-neutral reasons for striking potential jurors. But are courts required to conduct a “comparative juror analysis” and ask why they kept other jurors to whom those same race-neutral reasons apply? Fifth Circuit (en banc): Nope. Dissent: “Today’s opinion saps most of the force out of this one tool that has ever resulted in us finding a Batson violation.”
