In the words of Justice Kennedy, there is an “imperative to purge racial prejudice from the administration of justice,” which the courts have given strength and creed since ratification of the Civil War Amendments. This “racial prejudice purge” has historically infiltrated the courts and has influenced their decisions since the passage of these amendments. The impetus of the Fourteenth Amendment, in particular, was to “eliminate racial discrimination emanating from official sources in the States.”2

Time and again, the Supreme Court has enforced the Constitution’s guarantee against state-sponsored racial discrimination in the jury system…