News Archive

Legal scholarship by Antony Page, Assistant Professor of Law & John S. Grimes Fellow, played a role in a recent U.S. Supreme Court case. In Justice Breyer’s concurring opinion in Miller-El v. Dretke, the Justice twice cited Page’s recent article, “Batson’s Blind Spot: Unconscious Stereotyping and the Peremptory Challenge” (85 B.U. L. Rev 155 [2005]). The Miller-El Court held that the prosecutor had exercised peremptory challenges based on race, and thus the defendant's conviction was unconstitutional. Citing to Page's article, among others, Justice Breyer's concurrence questioned the Batson approach to peremptories--in particular the problem of attorneys who may be unaware of their motivations (Slip op. at 2). Breyer concluded with a call for a reconsideration of the peremptory challenge system as a whole, observing that members of the legal profession, including Page, have advocated its elimination (Slip. op. at 7-8).