This appeal presents an issue concerning the application of the
Batson
rule barring' discriminatory use of peremptory challenges.
See Batson v. Kentucky,
*25 Facts
Howard, who is Black, was convicted on June 5, 1984, in Nassau County Court of robbery, possession of stolen property, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. During jury selection, defense counsel moved for a mistrial on the ground that the prosecutor had used peremptory challenges to strike the only two Black members of the venire. The prosecutor responded only by saying that “neither peremptory challenge was exercised solely on the basis of race.” The mistrial motion was denied, and an all-White jury was empaneled. Howard was convicted on all charges.
While Howard’s direct appeal to the Appellate Division was pending, the Supreme Court ruled in
Batson
that a prosecutor’s use of racially motivated peremptory challenges violated a defendant’s right to equal protection of the laws. The Court subsequently held that
Batson
applied retroactively to decisions pending on direct appeal.
Griffith v. Kentucky,
The hearing was held on May 27-28, 1987, before Judge Jules E. Orenstein, the Judge who had tried the case having retired. The prosecutor, relying on memory and notes taken during voir dire, conceded that race had been a factor in his peremptory challenge decisions, but suggested other factors that he claimed had been more significant. His acknowledgment of some reliance on race was explicit:
Q You did state that race was a factor?
A Yes.
Q Race itself was a factor?
A Right.
Q Not simply those jurors taken together, but race was a factor?
A Yes.
Q You did believe their race, the fact that they were black, was bad for your case?
A My feeling was they [sic ] made them sympathetic to the defendant.
The prosecutor also said that race had not been an “overriding” or a “major” factor.
Endeavoring to articulate race-neutral explanations, the prosecutor said that he had challenged one Black member of the venire, Mrs. DuBose, because her inability, when reading from a chart, to pronounce correctly the word “prejudice” indicated to him that she lacked the educational level and ability he thought necessary to comprehend the State’s case. He said that he had challenged the other Black member of the venire, Mrs. Herring, because she had limited work experience; had five children and therefore might be sympathetic to the defendant; had expressed no opinion about mental illness, which might be relevant to one of the trial witnesses; and had no connection with law enforcement, either as a juror in prior cases, as a crime victim, or as a friend of those in law enforcement. The defendant countered that Mrs. Du-Bose’s mispronunciation was not significant and that the reasons proffered for challenging Mrs. Herring were not credible in view of the prosecutor’s willingness to accept a White member of the venire with similar characteristics.
The County Court endeavored to resolve the
Batson
challenge by applying the analysis of
Texas Dep't of Community Affairs v. Burdine,
Howard then sought habeas corpus relief in the District Court. For reasons similar to those relied on by the state courts, the District Court held that Howard was not entitled to relief under Batson, and entered judgment dismissing the petition. Though endorsing Judge Orenstein’s fact-finding, which had found Howard to have failed to sustain his burden of showing discriminatory motivation, the District Court analyzed the issue in slightly different terms. Chief Judge Platt said the issue, once a prima facie case had been established, was whether “the prosecutor’s explanations were sufficiently race-neutral to rebut the prima facie showing of discrimination.” Howard v. Senkowski, No. 90-CV-3735, slip op. at 9 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 18, 1992).
Discussion
Howard contends that the prosecutor’s admission that race was “a factor” in exercising the peremptory challenges precluded a finding that the prosecutor had articulated a race-neutral explanation. Though we disagree with that precise contention, it serves to pose the underlying issue in this case. The acknowledgment that race was part of the prosecutor’s motivation, or even a finding to that effect unaided by an acknowledgment, is not inconsistent with the existence of some other race-neutral explanation for the prosecutor’s action. A person may act for more than one reason. Where more than one reason motivates challenged action, the issue is what standards apply in determining whether the action is invalid because of the partially improper motivation.
In the realm of constitutional law, whenever challenged action would be unlawful if improperly motivated, the Supreme Court has made it clear that the challenged action is invalid if motivated in part by an impermissible reason but that the alleged offender is entitled to the defense that it would have taken the same action in the absence of the improper motive.
See Mt. Healthy City School Board of Education v. Doyle,
We start our inquiry with the Supreme Court’s major modern consideration of establishing racial discrimination for equal protection purposes in
Washington v. Davis,
The Court emphasized the requirement of a racially discriminatory
purpose
the following year in
Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.,
Proof that the decision of the Village was motivated in part by a racially discriminatory purpose would not necessarily have required invalidation of the challenged decision. Such proof would, however, have shifted to the Village the burden of establishing that the same decision would have resulted even had the impermissible purpose not been considered.
Arlington Heights,
Dual motivation analysis, in effect, may supplement so-called “pretext” analysis, which applies to a claimant’s “burden of persuading the court that [he or] she has been the victim of intentional discrimination.”
Burdine,
The two forms of analysis are not incompatible. The claimant always has to prove discriminatory motivation. If he succeeds, the accused party has an opportunity to show that there were really two motives and that a permissible motive would have led to the challenged action. In effect, the accused party is permitted to show, if he can, that the improper motivation proved by the claimant was only part, and not the decisive part, of the motivation.
Against this background, the Supreme Court decided
Batson,
ruling that the Equal Protection Clause barred a prosecutor’s use of peremptory challenges based on race. Placing the issue squarely within the tradition of equal protection jurisprudence, the Court said, “A recurring question in these [jury discrimination] cases,
as in any case alleging a violation of the Equal Protection Clause,
was whether the defendant had met his burden of proving purposeful discrimination on the part of the State.”
Since dual motivation analysis was explicitly invoked by the Supreme Court in the context of determining racial motivation for purposes of adjudicating a challenge under the Equal Protection Clause,
see Arlington Heights,
For several reasons, we do not believe the Court intended such a result. In the first place, it is always hazardous to seize upon a single word or phrase in a judicial opinion and build upon it a rule that was not in issue in the case being decided.
Bat-son
presented the Court with no issue as to whether racial motivation needed to be the sole basis for a peremptory challenge in order to disallow the challenge. The issue presented was whether the claimant’s
prima facie
ease of discrimination could be established by circumstances drawn from the pending criminal case or could be established only by a persistent pattern of discrimination, as had previously been required by
Swain v. Alabama,
Since the Court could reasonably anticipate that prosecutors, called upon to explain peremptory challenges alleged to be racially motivated, would normally dispute a claim of racial motivation, the Court understandably outlined pretext analysis, appropriate for cases where improper motivation is totally disputed, and had no occasion to discuss dual motivation analysis, appropriate for the relatively infrequent cases where improper purpose is shown to be part of the prosecutor's motivation. Contemplating an all-or-nothing dispute as to improper motivation, the Court wrote the one sentence prohibiting a prosecutor from challenging potential jurors "solely" on account of their race. Other opinions that have repeated the "solely" phrasing have done so only in the context of an all-or-nothing dispute as to whether improper motivation existed at all.
See Hernandez v. New York,
— U.S. —, —,
Second, other language in
Batson
and in the peremptory challenge cases that have extended its holding phrased the motivation standard in traditional terms, without the qualifying adverb "solely." For example, in
Batson
the Court said that once a prosecutor articulates a neutral explanation, the trial court will have to determine "if the defendant has established purposeful discrimination,"
Similarly, in
Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co.,
— U.S. —,
Third,
Batson
explicitly relied on the Court's prior equal protection jurisprudence as articulated in cases such as
Davis
and
Arlington Heights, see Batson,
Fourth,
Powers
makes the significant point that the Fourteenth Amendment's mandate of eliminating official racial discrimination is "most compelling" in the judicial system.
Powers,
— U.S. at —,
Finally, the decisions evolving
Batson
requirements recognize the role that remains for lower courts to work out the mechanics for implementing these requirements.
See Edmonson,
— U.S. at —,
For all of these reasons, we conclude that Batson challenges may be brought by defendants who can show that racial discrimination was a substantial part of the motivation for a prosecutor’s peremptory challenges, leaving to the prosecutor the affirmative defense of showing that the same challenges would have been exercised for race-neutral reasons in the absence of such partially improper motivation. 3 In concluding that dual motivation analysis applies to a Batson challenge, we do no more than apply that analysis precisely as previously enunciated by the Supreme Court in prior dual motivation cases such as Arlington Heights and Price Waterhouse.
Applying that approach to the pending case, we further conclude that Howard’s Batson challenge has not yet been properly adjudicated. Judge Orenstein’s ruling in the County Court found that race was a part of the prosecutor’s motivation, as the prosecutor had candidly acknowledged, yet applied the pretext analysis of Burdine and concluded that Howard had not sustained his burden of showing purposeful discrimination. However, once the prosecutor’s partially improper motivation had been established, Howard was entitled to prevail unless, under dual motivation analysis, the prosecutor could sustain his burden of showing that he would have exercised his challenges solely for race-neutral reasons. Neither Judge Orenstein nor Chief Judge Platt in the District Court imposed that burden upon the prosecutor.
Under the circumstances, we will remand the matter to the District Court and leave to the District Judge the decision whether to apply dual motivation analysis on the current record or such expanded record as he deems appropriate, or to return the matter, through the device of a conditional writ, to the state court so that the proper analysis may be made there.
4
We intimate no view as to the ultimate disposition of Howard's claim under dual motivation analysis. That is a factual matter for a trial court.
Batson,
The cynical might suggest that prosecutors will take from our ruling a message of caution not to acknowledge that race was a factor in their use of peremptory challenges even in those instances when it was. We totally reject such a view. In the first place, we are unwilling to accept the premise of this argument that prosecutors will readily disregard the obligations of their office and violate the requirements of an oath by swearing false denials of racial motivation. Second, we have every confidence that trial judges can be relied upon to determine the true facts of the prosecutor’s motive, just as they are relied upon to determine subjective mental states of parties and witnesses in all manner of cases. Third, the determination thát race was a factor in a prosecutor’s use of peremptory challenges is not dependent on a prosecutor’s acknowledgment. As with all other inquiries concerning mental state, the ultimate determination is an inference from all the pertinent circumstances, whether or not an acknowledgment occurs. Finally, we think it not amiss to observe that in those instances where race was a factor in a prosecutor’s motivation, not only will a false denial risk detection and serious consequences, but a frank acknowledgment may bolster the prosecutor’s credibility in the assertion of other race-neutral factors. In this case, for example, Judge Orenstein stated:
[The prosecutor’s] candid admission that race was a factor, although a minor one, in his exercise of the peremptory challenges which are the subject of this hearing, is a further indication to this Court of the overall credibility of his testimony.
People v. Howard, #56387, slip op. at 4 (Nassau Cty.Ct. Nov. 6, 1987). Simply because fact-finding on an issue of mental state like motivation is difficult is no reason to alter the normal approach to fact-finding nor to diminish confidence in the force of a witness’s oath or in a trier’s ability to ascertain facts.
Conclusion
Because dual motivation analysis was not applied once race was found to have been part of the prosecutor’s motivation for exercising peremptory challenges, the judgment is vacated and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. Dual motivation analysis also applies in non-constitutional contexts.
See, e.g., Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins,
. Though pretext analysis was developed in Title VII cases, such as
Burdine
and
McDonnell Douglas,
it is fully applicable to constitutional claims where the issue is whether an improper motive existed, as
Batson
itself demonstrates,
. Though no prior decision in our Circuit has had occasion to determine whether dual motivation analysis applies to a
Batson
claim, we are satisfied that our conclusion is not a “new rule” within the meaning of
Teague v. Lane,
.
Compare Raley v. Parke,
