Lockhart v. McCree

In this case we address the question left open by our decision nearly 18 years ago in Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U. S. 510 (1968): Does the Constitution prohibit the removal for cause, prior to the guilt phase of a bifurcated capital trial, of prospective jurors whose opposition to the death penalty is so strong that it would prevent or substantially impair the performance of their duties as jurors at the sentencing phase of the trial? See id., at 520, n. 18; Bumper v. North Carolina, 391 U. S. 543, 545 (1968). We hold that it does not.

Respondent Ardia McCree filed a habeas corpus petition…