Rajesh Ramcharan v. United States
Immigration
Was the judge required to conduct the requested voir dire on racial prejudice under the 'reasonable possibility' standard set forth in Rosales-Loper v. United States?
QUESTION PRESENTED Rajesh Ramcharan is Black. He was charged with immigration and marriagefraud related offenses. Both immigration and marriage ate issues with long histories of codified racial prejudice. Moreover, Mr. Ramcharan went to trial at a time when some of America’s top elected officials were expressly espousing and implicitly endorsing racially prejudicial views. Before trial, Mr. Ramcharan asked the judge to voir dire on the issue of racial prejudice. The judge refused. In light of the totality of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Ramcharan’s trial, was the judge required to conduct the requested voir dire under the “reasonable possibility” standard set forth by this Court in Rosales-Lopex v. United States, 451 U.S. 182 (1981). il