John Paul Stevens

“ In fact, while a racially balanced jury would be representative of the racial groups in a community, the focus on race would likely distort the jury's reflection of other groups in society, characterized by age, sex, ethnicity, religion, education level, or economic class. ”

“ The fair-cross-section requirement mandates the use of a neutral selection mechanism to generate a jury representative of the community. It does not dictate that any particular group or race have representation on a jury. ”

“ Batson, however, created an important, though limited, exception to the Swain presumption. Under Batson, a defendant is permitted to establish from "the totality of relevant facts," 476 U.S., at 94, 106 S.Ct., at 1721, that black jurors have been excluded on the basis of race and that the system of peremptory challenges has been operated in a discriminatory fashion. The peremptory challenge procedure, when it is used to remove members of a particular racial group, is no longer presumed to serve the State's interest in obtaining a fair and impartial jury. ”

“ In my opinion, it is appropriate to review petitioner's equal protection claim, because a showing that black jurors have been eliminated solely on account of their race not only is sufficient to establish a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment but also is sufficient to establish a violation of the Sixth Amendment. ”

“ In view of the heterogeneous population of our Nation, public respect for our criminal justice system and the rule of law will be strengthened if we ensure that no citizen is disqualified from jury service because of his race. ”

“ See Lockhart v. McCree, 476 U.S. 162, 173, 178, 106 S.Ct. 1758, 1767-68, 90 L.Ed.2d 137 (1986) ; Taylor, 419 U.S., at 538, 95 S.Ct., at 701-02; Apodaca, 406 U.S., at 413, 92 S.Ct., at 1634 (opinion of WHITE, J.) ”