Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego)
Assemblymember Dr. Weber’s (D-San Diego) AB 3070 bill would prohibit a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of the prospective juror’s race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, or religious affiliation.
Introduced on Feb. 21 of this year, Dr. Weber’s bill addresses how the jury-selection process referred to in courtrooms as Voir Dire — and conducted by trial judges, prosecutors or defense attorneys — exclusively uses peremptory strikes to remove African Americans or people of color from a court case.
Social science research has shown that African Americans are excluded from juries from peremptory challenges at a much higher rate, as much as two-and-half times, than prospective jurors of other races are eliminated.
Upon objection, the bill would require the party exercising the challenge to state the reasons the peremptory challenge has been exercised.
The current law prohibits a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of an assumption that the prospective juror is biased merely because of the sex, race, color, religion, national origin, and ancestry.
