1. Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., (1991)
2. Facts: Race-based peremptory challenge of a civil juror.
3. Procedural Posture: Alleged violation of 14th amendment.
4. Issue: Whether race based peremptory challenges by a private citizen in a civil case violate the 14th amendment equal protection under the state action doctrine.
5. Holding: Yes.
6. Majority Reasoning: [Kennedy] The claimed constitutional deprivation here results from the exercise of a right having its source in state authority. There are several guidelines illustrated by the previous cases, 1. the extent to which an actor relies on governmental assistance and benefits [Burton], 2. whether the actor is performing a traditional governmental function [Marsh], and 3. whether the injury caused is aggravated in a unique way by the incidents of governmental authority [Shelley]. This case meets all three of the guidelines because the discrimination is occuring in a judicial proceeding, during the selection of a jury, which is a unique governmental entity bound by race neutrality.
7. Dissent Reasoning: [O’Connor] It is necessary after Jackson v. Metro Edison, for a showing that the government was involved in the specific decision challenged. Here all of the government action is preliminary to the use of a peremptory challenge, it does not constitute participation in the challenge itself. Trials are adversarial proceedings in which attorneys act on behalf of private clients, not the government. [Scalia] felt that there was no consitutional basis for the holding and it was just evidence of the majority’s hostility to race-based judgments.
8. Notes: In Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp., (1995), the Court [Scalia] held that Amtrak was an “agency or instrumentality of the United States” [since the U.S. had created the corporation and reserved the power to appoint members of its board] and therefore was bound by the first amendment to prohibit content-based restrictions on the leasing of billboards for political purposes.
