On Monday morning, the Supreme Court will file its opinion in People v. Scott, an automatic death penalty appeal in which the court requested post-oral argument supplemental briefing on Batson/Wheeler jury selection issues.
We’ve identified Scott as a case that might show a shift in the way the court handles death penalty cases. John Roemer’s lead article in today’s Daily Journal (“Racial bias in jury selection to get another state Supreme Court test”) [subscription] makes the same point. Roemer writes that “[r]acial bias in jury selection has gotten heightened scrutiny at the state Supreme Court since Justice Goodwin H. Liu called out his colleagues on the topic in 2013.” That’s a reference to Justice Liu’s separate opinions in a trio of death penalty cases two summers ago.
Scott was argued on the court’s January calendar, but the post-argument request for briefing delayed submission of the case by two months.
The Scott opinion can be viewed Monday starting at 10:00 a.m.
