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58 UMKC L. Rev. 361 (1989-1990)
Batson v. Kentucky: A Promise Unfulfilled

handle is hein.journals/umkc58 and id is 371 raw text is: BATSON v. KENTUCKY: A PROMISE UNFULFILLED The Honorable Theodore McMillian* Christopher J. Petrini** I. INTRODUCTION: DEFINING THE PROBLEM Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank Harmony in a World of Difference and the UMKC Continuing Legal Education Program for the invitation to address this distinguished group. Harmony in a World of Dif- ference and organizations of its type are important to promoting justice and achieving racial understanding. I have been asked to discuss the importance and implications of Batson v. Kentucky,1 a 1986 United States Supreme Court case which held that a prose- cutor's use of peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors solely because of their race violates the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. The importance of a fair, impartial jury in criminal trials cannot be over- stated. In my career, I have participated in and observed the criminal trial process as a prosecutor, a defense attorney, a trial judge, a state appellate judge and, during the last eleven years, as a federal appellate judge. I have also personally experienced the indignities and injustice of discrimination and seg- regation. In Batson v. Kentucky, the Supreme Court attempted to accommo- date the goals of empaneling an impartial jury and eradicating discrimination in jury selection. * Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, St. Louis, Missouri. Judge McMil- lian was appointed to the Eighth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals by President Jimmy Carter on September 23, 1978. Judge McMillian was born January 28, 1919, in St. Louis, Missouri. He was educated at Lin- coln University (B.S., 1941) and St. Louis University School of Law (J.D., 1949, first in class). Judge McMillian served in the United States Army Signal Corps from 1942 to 1946 where he attained the rank of Lieutenant. He married Minnie E. Foster on December 8, 1941. Over the years Judge McMillian has served as a faculty member, associate professor or lec- turer at the following colleges and universities: St. Louis University Law School (1957 to 1972); University of Missouri at St. Louis (1968 to 1978); Webster College (1977 to 1983); National Col- lege of Juvenile Justice at the University of Nevada (1972 to 1978); and National College of State Trial Judges at the University of Nevada at Reno (1964 to 1977). Judge McMillian is a present member of Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Sigma Nu, the National Jesuit Honor Society. He has received the Alumni Merit Award from St. Louis University; the Award of Honor in the Jurist Division from the St. Louis Lawyers Association; a Doctor of Humanities from Lincoln University of Jefferson City; a Doctor of Humanities from the University of Missouri at St. Louis; and the Herbert Harley Award from the American Judicature Society. ** Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Theodore McMillian, St. Louis, Missouri; A.B., 1983, Georgetown University; M.A., 1987, Duke University; J.D., 1987, Duke University. 1. 476 U.S. 79 (1986).

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