When prosecutors at Antiwuan Tyrez Campbell’s trial removed a Black woman from the potential jury pool, they knew they weren’t allowed to do it on account of her race. Instead, they listed a slew of reasons, including the fact that “she was a participant, if not an organizer, for Black Lives Matter at her current college with her professor.”
But striking a juror based on her support for Black Lives Matter is striking her because of her race. As the MacArthur Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union argue, in a brief authored with the law firm of Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe, support for Black Lives Matter is inextricably bound up in racial identity.
The MacArthur Justice Center’s brief in Mr. Campbell’s case is part of its campaign to stop prosecutors everywhere from removing Black and brown jurors from the jury pool. Striking a juror on the basis of her support for Black Lives Matter is just the latest tactic prosecutors use to justify their conduct. See here to read about MacArthur’s work convincing a California court to say that striking a juror on account of her support for Black Lives Matter violates the Constitution.