Bryant v. Wainwright’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 federal appellate · 3 district · 5 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “First, the group allegedly discriminated against must be one that is a distinct class in society. Second, the group must be substantially underrepresented in the grand jury venires ... over a significant period of time. Third, the defendant must show that the selection procedure is not racially neutral or is susceptible to abuse as a tool of discrimination.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Dobbs v. Kemp · Dobbs v. Kemp

2. “The "rule of exclusion" also requires that the statistical underrepresentation must have occurred over a significant period of time. This also works to eliminate chance or inadvertence as a cause of underrepresentation. Rose v. Mitchell, 443 U.S. 545 at 570 , 99 S.Ct. [2993] at 3007 [ 61 L.Ed.2d 739 (1979)]. There is not, however, a magic formula which can be applied to every factual situation in resolving the question of discrimination. Exact mathematical standards have never been developed, nor should they be. Such a mechanical approach would be too rigid for the wide variety of circumstances and unique factual patterns of discrimination cases arising under the Equal Protection Clause. See Alexander v. Louisiana, 405 U.S. 625, 630 , 92 S.Ct. 1221 [1225], 31 L.Ed.2d 536 (1972). As a result, courts have addressed each case on an individual basis. Most courts, however, have adopted a single method for evaluating a defendant's statistical evidence. A determination is made first of the percentage of the relevant general population composed of the particular group or class allegedly singled out for discriminatory treatment. A similar finding must then be made of the percentage of the same group or class represented in grand jury venires or the office of grand jury foreperson. Finally, the two figures are compared, and if the result reveals a significantly large disparity, then there arises a presumption of discrimination. ... . In the present case, the appellant claims that black”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 659 So. 2d 1210 - Leonard v. State

3. “The third factor of the prima facie test, establishment that the selection process is susceptible to abuse, can also affect the gravity of the disparity. A selection process which can be easily maneuvered in a discriminatory fashion is more likely to give rise to a presumption of discrimination than a selection process which would be difficult, but not impossible, to manipulate. Thus, in Alexander v. Louisiana, 405 U.S. 625 , 92 S.Ct. 1221 , 31 L.Ed.2d 536 (1972), the Court held that a disparity of only fourteen percentage points supported a prima facie case of discrimination, but emphasized the ease with which jury commissioners could have used their procedures for discrimination. The goal of this entire balancing process is, of course, to eliminate chance or inadvertence as a cause of the disparity; the statistical evidence must convince the court that discrimination is the only reasonable explanation.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 846 So. 2d 114 - State v. Fleming