Floyd v. Alabama, 138 S. Ct. 311

Christopher Floyd was sentenced to death by an Alabama jury after a capital trial in Houston County.
During voir dire, prosecutors used peremptory strikes against 10 of 11 qualified African‑American venire members and used 12 of 18 strikes against women.
The prosecutor marked a “B, as in black” next to the names of each potential African‑American juror.
Prosecutors offered race‑ and gender‑neutral reasons for strikes (age, other asserted traits), but the record showed some proffered reasons applied equally to seated jurors and were inconsistent (e.g., striking women of ages 28–77 for being ‘too old’).
The Supreme Court denied certiorari, but Justice Sotomayor (joined by Justice Breyer) issued a statement expressing serious Batson/J.E.B. concerns and likening the facts to Foster v. Chatman.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether peremptory strikes were motivated by race in violation of Batson	Floyd: strikes targeted African‑American jurors; markings and pattern show discriminatory intent	State: strikes were race‑neutral (age, demeanor, other nonracial reasons)	Cert. denied; Sotomayor notes strong Batson concerns and similarity to Foster, but Court declined plenary review
Whether strikes against women violated J.E.B.	Floyd: disproportionate strikes against women and asserted reasons (age) inconsistent	State: gender‑neutral explanations (e.g., age, perceived attitudes)	Same outcome: cert. denied; concurring statement questions sufficiency of proffered justifications
Whether trial record supports prosecutors’ race/gender‑neutral explanations	Floyd: explanations inconsistent with record and applied selectively	State: offered permissible, nonpretextual reasons for each strike	Statement finds record fails to support some proffered reasons and flags pretext concerns
Whether this case requires Supreme Court review despite procedural posture	Floyd: merits relief due to discriminatory jury selection	State: procedural posture and unique context counsel against review	Court denied certiorari; Sotomayor warns courts must police discriminatory jury selection

Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (prohibits racial discrimination in peremptory strikes)
J.E.B. v. Alabama ex rel. T.B., 511 U.S. 127 (extends Batson framework to gender‑based strikes)
Foster v. Chatman, 578 U.S. _ (2016) (found prosecutors’ strikes were motivated in substantial part by race)
Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472 (review of pretext in peremptory‑strike explanations)
Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400 (discusses how discriminatory jury selection undermines fairness and integrity of proceedings)