Whether expressly citing race or gender as a reason for a peremptory strike means the strike was motivated by discriminatory intent under Batson v. Kentucky

QUESTION PRESENTED In the trial of Luis Angel Cruz-Cruz, a prosecutor used a peremptory strike to keep a Latino man off the jury. The prosecutor said that he preferred an otherwise similar juror because she was (1) married and (2) an “Asian female.” The question is whether the express citation of race or gender as a reason for a peremptory strike means that the proponent did not provide a raceor genderneutral explanation under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), and thus was “motivated in substantial part by discriminatory intent,” Flowers v. Mississippi, 588 USS. 284, 303 (2019). i