Some Things Never Change

Season two, episode three of the critically acclaimed show West Wing aired on October 18, 2000. That was nearly two decades ago, before 9-11, before Katrina, before the iPhone, before the mortgage crisis, etc. Despite this, some things haven’t changed. Towards the beginning of the episode, Sam Seaborn, the deputy White House Communications Director, has a conversation with C.J. Cregg, White House Press Secretary. The midterm elections are coming up and the White House is trying to get as many democrats in the House as possible: 

SAM: His prosecutorial record is great. 

CJ: Not during jury selection.

SAM: Preemptive challenges?

CJ: Your friend likes white juries for his black defendants. 

SAM: He’s a prosecutor CJ. 

CJ: Not anymore, he’s a politician.

By the end of the episode the White house ends up pulling their support from the congressman because of said prosecutorial record. For the fictional White House in West Wing, this was the easiest solution. Unfortunately, there is no “easy solution” to racism in jury selection, which is why it is still prevalent today.Despite the lack of reform in the past twenty years, some people think reform is on the horizon as the Supreme Court decides the fate of a Mississippi man in Flowers v. Mississippi. I would argue they should be cautiously optimistic. 

 Mr. Flowers was tried six timesfor the same crime (the 1996 murder of four people in a furniture store). The Supreme Court is currently trying to decide whether District Attorney Doug Evans violated the constitution and the Batson Ruleby excluding black jurors at Flower’s sixth trial? There is no question that, in the words of C.J Cregg, Mr. Evans “likes white juries for his black defendants?” In the first four trials Mr. Evans used all 36 of his preemptory challengeson black jurors. Two of those trials were subsequently thrown out because Mississippi courts rule Mr. Evans violated the Batson Rule. The fourth and fifth trials resulted in deadlocked juries and finally in the sixth trial (with one black juror) Mr. Evans got his conviction, which the Supreme Court of Mississippi upheld when it was appealed for prosecutorial misconduct. 

During oral arguments many of the justices called into question the state courts decision. Justice Brett Kavanaugh drew attention to the fact that 41 out of 42 potential African-American jurors were struck, and Justice Elena Kagan noted one of the struck jurors would have been the perfect prosecution juror because of her background. Even Justice Clarence Thomas asked a question, breaking his three year silenceon the Supreme Court. Even though the tone of the justices was favorable to Flowers, proponents of jury reform should not be too optimistic. Yes, the Supreme Court might rule in favor of Flowers but by doing so the country will not suddenly have a solution to preemptory challenges. Mr. Flowers case does not present a radical solutionto jury selection and the Supreme Court is unlikely to come up with their own by doing away with preemptory challenges or putting greater limits on them. 

This underscores the fact that there is no easy solution to racial discrimination in jury selection and leads us to wonder if there is any solution at all. Another theme in West Wingis gun control. Perhaps these political issues share the same fate: a problem often talked about but never solved.