Clark v. Mississippi

Summary

The Court denied certiorari without resolving the merits. Justice Sotomayor, writing alone respecting the denial, criticized Mississippi’s requirement that a defendant alleging ineffective assistance in presenting a Batson challenge show that a successful challenge would have changed the trial’s substantive outcome. She argued that this requirement conflicts with the structural nature of Batson violations and improperly invites assumptions that jurors’ race affects their decisions. She nevertheless concurred in the denial because the state court independently found no deficient performance, and Clark did not challenge that ground before the Court.