Whether the North Carolina Supreme Court improperly barred relief in a Batson challenge involving gender-based jury discrimination

Courts have long recognized and honored their duty to root out the impacts of stereotype-based decision-making wherever it arises. They have not hesitated to overturn criminal convictions upon discovering discrimination on the basis of race or gender in jury selection. In contrast the North Carolina courts have abdicated their responsibilities, leaving the state to run roughshod over the equal protection rights of its citizens. Here, there is no question that the prosecutor struck a potential juror because she was a woman. Instead of remedying the odious error, the Supreme Court of North Carolina rewrote the state’s postconviction statutes to bar relief. At the petitioners’ joint trial, the prosecutor responded to a Batson objection for the juror in question. He offered a single explanation: her arthritis. During un