ause. Traditionally, it is intended to allow the rejection of a juror for "sudden impressions and unaccountable prejudices we are apt to conceive upon the bare looks and gestures of another."
However, the history of racism in American and the American legal system signal that peremptories will be used in racist ways that diminish the defendant's right to an impartial jury. In such cases, arguing that the peremptory should remain purely arbitrary is difficult.
The Supreme Court's Sixth Amendment jurisprudence has recognized that the right to an impartial jury implies that the jury should include a fair cross-section of the community. Peremptory challenges that strip minority group members from the jury violate this requirement. Logically, however, the Sixth Amendment approach contradicts the essential nature of the peremptory. The fair cross-section requirement protects members of "cognizable groups." Suspicion about a potential juror's performance that falls short of justifying a challenge for cause is invariably based on a generalization about some group to whic
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