Wilson v. City of Philadelphia

MEMORANDUM

PAPPERT, District Judge.

In April of 1986 the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986), holding that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause prohibits prosecutors from challenging potential jurors based on their race. Id. at 89, 106 S.Ct. 1712. Prior to Batson, the Court’s opinion in Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965) governed the analysis of alleged racial discrimination in jury selection; Under Swain, it was much more difficult- for a criminal defendant to show…