Opinion ID: 2533185
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Claim of Gender Discrimination By The Government

Text: Paris argues that the district court erred when it held that he had failed to make out a prima facie showing of discrimination by the Government. We discuss the standard of review to be applied to a district court's rejection of a Batson challenge on this basis and we then consider the district court's rejection of Paris's challenge to the Government's exercise of its peremptory strikes.

When a party raises a Batson challenge, the trial court uses a three-part burden-shifting framework to assess whether the challenged peremptory strike is based on an impermissible discriminatory motive. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 93-98, 106 S.Ct. 1712. First, the objecting party must make a prima facie case that opposing counsel exercised a peremptory challenge on the basis of a protected class. Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 358-59, 111 S.Ct. 1859, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991). To establish a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination, the objecting party must show that the other party challenged members of a specific group and that the totality of the circumstances raises an inference of discriminatory motive. See Batson, 476 U.S. at 96-97, 106 S.Ct. 1712. Second, if a prima facie case is established, the burden shifts to the challenged party to present a nondiscriminatory reason for striking the jurors in question. See id. at 97, 106 S.Ct. 1712. At this stage, proffered explanations are deemed valid unless discriminatory intent is inherent in the challenged party's explanation. Although the [challenged party] must present a comprehensible reason, `[t]he second step of this process does not demand an explanation that is persuasive, or even plausible'; so long as the reason is not inherently discriminatory, it suffices. Rice v. Collins, 546 U.S. 333, 338, 126 S.Ct. 969, 163 L.Ed.2d 824 (2006) (quoting Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765, 767-68, 115 S.Ct. 1769, 131 L.Ed.2d 834 (1995)). Finally, if a valid reason is articulated, the trial court considers the totality of the circumstances to determine whether the objecting party has carried its burden of proving purposeful discrimination by a preponderance of the evidence. Hernandez, 500 U.S. at 363-64, 111 S.Ct. 1859. Despite Batson's three part framework, the ultimate burden of persuasion regarding improper motivation rests with, and never shifts from, the opponent of the strike. Rice, 546 U.S. at 333-34, 126 S.Ct. 969 (quoting Purkett, 514 U.S. at 768, 115 S.Ct. 1769).
This Circuit has not ruled on the standard of review to be applied to a district court's determination whether a party has met the first prong of the Batson analysis by showing a prima facie case of discrimination. The Supreme Court has held that a trial court's ruling on the issue of discriminatory intent must be sustained unless it is clearly erroneous, Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472, 477, 128 S.Ct. 1203, 170 L.Ed.2d 175 (2008), but it has not ruled on the standard of review to be applied to a ruling on step one of the Batson inquiry. Other circuits have split on the question, dividing on whether the determination is subject to clear error or de novo review. [5] We hold that a district court's determination whether a party has established a prima facie case under Batson is subject to review for abuse of discretion. The question whether a prima facie case of discrimination has been shown presents a mixed question of law and fact. See Overton v. Newton, 295 F.3d 270, 276-77 (2d Cir.2002) (threshold determination of whether Batson prima facie case has been established involves both issues of fact and an issue of law) (citation omitted); accord Mahaffey, 162 F.3d at 484 (same). The trial court is entitled to some deference, as there clearly is an element of factfinding to the determination: the trial court has heard the answers of the prospective jurors and questions and statements of the lawyers in voir dire and observed the demeanor of both. See, e.g., Brewer, 119 F.3d at 1004. [6] On the other hand, the inquiry is not entirely factual, as the question of whether an inference of discrimination can be drawn ( e.g., from the fact of four straight strikes against men) is often more a question of law than fact. See, e.g., Mahaffey, 162 F.3d at 484; see also Overton v. Newton, 295 F.3d at 276-77 (once trial court performs its fact-finding, it must decide, as matter of law, whether prima facie case of discrimination has been established). While one could fairly argue that the determination of a Batson prima facie case could be subject to a two-step review  clear error for factual findings and de novo for rulings of law  in this context the inquiries often are not clearly delineated. Accordingly, we conclude that the better course is to apply an abuse of discretion standard of review. See, e.g., Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U.S. 384, 405, 110 S.Ct. 2447, 110 L.Ed.2d 359 (1990) (holding that abuse of discretion standard applies to review on appeal of determinations of whether Fed. R.Civ.P. 11 was violated, as both factual and legal inquiries are required). Of course, the exercise of discretion based on clearly erroneous facts or incorrect rulings of law would necessarily constitute an abuse of discretion. Id.; accord Milanese v. Rust-Oleum Corp., 244 F.3d 104, 110 (2d Cir.2001) (citing Cooter & Gell v. Hartmarx Corp., 496 U.S. at 405, 110 S.Ct. 2447).
We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that Paris had failed to show a prima facie case of discrimination under Batson. Paris's challenge was based on nothing more than the Government's exercise of its first four peremptory challenges against men. In certain circumstances, a pattern of peremptory challenges alone may give rise to an inference of impermissible discrimination. Batson, 476 U.S. at 97, 106 S.Ct. 1712; see, e.g., Mahaffey, 162 F.3d at 485 (prima facie case shown by pattern of strikes where prosecutor excused all seven prospective African-American jurors); McCain v. Gramley, 96 F.3d 288, 292 (7th Cir.1996) (inference of discrimination may be drawn where there are only a few members of a racial group on the venire panel and one party strikes each one of them). Here, however, the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that the Government's pattern of four strikes in a row against men did not, by itself, establish a prima facie case of gender discrimination. First, at the start of the peremptory challenge stage, more than half of the prospective jurors were men, as there were fifteen men and thirteen women. Second, Paris (who had ten strikes to the Government's six), used seven of his first eight challenges against women, which increased the percentage of men in the jury pool and the statistical likelihood that the Government would use its peremptory challenges against men. By the time the Government exercised its third and fourth peremptory challenges, the odds were nearly two to one, based just on the numbers, that a male juror would be stricken. See United States v. Alvarado, 923 F.2d 253, 255-56 (2d Cir.1991) (Only a rate of minority challenges significantly higher than the minority percentage of the venire would support a statistical inference of discrimination.). Third, although Paris's counsel had announced that he was going to strike women jurors because of their gender, the Government had made no such statement about male jurors. District courts have broad latitude to consider the totality of the circumstances when determining whether a party has raised an inference of discrimination. Batson, 476 U.S. at 96-97, 98 n. 21, 106 S.Ct. 1712. Based on the record here, we conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in determining that Paris had failed to make a prima facie showing of discrimination by the Government in its exercise of its peremptory strikes.