A Fractured Supreme Court Plucks a Death-Row Defendant From Harm

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Black death-row prisoner in Mississippi on Thursday who claimed that he had been denied a fair trial because prosecutors had struck all but one of the Black potential jurors during jury selection.Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for a 5–4 court, held that the Mississippi courts had “unreasonably applied the clearly established Batson precedents,” referring to a landmark 1986 case, and “unreasonably determined” that defendant had “waived his opportunity to re...