Policing the Borders of Democracy: The Continuing Role of Batson in Protecting the Citizenship Rights of the Excluded

• Author: Melynda J. Price
• Position: Associate Professor of Law, University of Kentucky College of Law
• Pages: 1635-1644

1635

Policing the Borders of Democracy: The

Continuing Role of Batson in Protecting

the Citizenship Rights of the Excluded

Melynda J. Price

I came to Kentucky not really thinking about this state as being the

origin of the case upon which so much of my work is focused—Batson v.

Kentucky.1 For many Supreme Court cases, the law handed down from the

Court seems detached from the places and circumstances where the

litigation began—almost suspended above the real people whose lives are

part of the impetus for such systemic change to the law and legal practices.

However, in discussing the legacy of Batson, it is appropriate to revisit the

place where Batson began.

Early in my time at the University of Kentucky College of Law, I heard

about the efforts of a judge in Louisville aimed at reducing racially

discriminatory jury practices—practices that Batson and its resulting policies

were partly formulated to cure. When I initially met Judge Denise Clayton,

my first thought was that she should be taller. A woman who has done what

she has done seems tall on paper. However, she is not tall. She is a compact,

friendly woman who tells the truth no matter who is in the room. Before

being appointed to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, she served in a family

court, district court, and drug court in Jefferson County, which spans much

of metropolitan Louisville.2 Judge Clayton, like many in her generation of

African American women, has a résumé with a litany of firsts—she was the

first African American woman to serve on the Kentucky Court of Appeals

and the first African American woman to serve on the Kentucky Circuit

 Robert E. Harding, Jr. Associate Professor of Law, University of Kentucky College of

Law. I would like to first thank Dean Margaret Raymond of the University of Wisconsin Law

School and Professor James Tomkovicz of the University of Iowa College of Law for extendin g

an invitation to participate in a really important and fantastic symposium. I owe thanks to my

research assistant Hamida Labi and my friend and colleague Allison Connelly for their

thoughtful readings and comments. Though others have helped shape this work, its flaws, as

well as its good points, are mine. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to

contact me at melynda.price@uky.edu.

1. Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986).

2. Judge Denise Clayton, KY. CT. JUST., http://courts.ky.gov/courtofappeals/judges/

clayton.htm (last updated Nov. 29, 2007).