Flowers v. Mississippi

Decided June 21, 2019. Brett M. Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 17-9572 · 588 U.S. 284 (2019) · Cited 355 times

Holding

The trial court at Flowers’ sixth murder trial committed clear error in concluding that the State’s peremptory strike of a particular black prospective juror was not motivated in substantial part by discriminatory intent.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Batson v. Kentucky · 476 U.S. 79 (1986)
• Swain v. Alabama · 380 U.S. 202 (1965)
• Powers v. Ohio · 499 U.S. 400 (1991)
• Miller-El v. Dretke · 545 U.S. 231 (2005)
• Snyder v. Louisiana · 552 U.S. 472 (2008)
• Foster v. Chatman · 578 U.S. 488 (2016)
• Georgia v. McCollum · 505 U.S. 42 (1992)
• Strauder v. West Virginia · 100 U.S. 303 (1880)
• Campbell v. Louisiana · 523 U.S. 392 (1998)
• Miller-El v. Cockrell · 537 U.S. 322 (2003)
• Anderson v. City of Bessemer City · 470 U.S. 564 (1985)
• Lewis v. United States · 146 U.S. 370 (1892)
• JEB v. Alabama Ex Rel. TB · 511 U.S. 127 (1994)
• Johnson v. California · 545 U.S. 162 (2005)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Hernandez v. Texas · 347 U.S. 475 (1954)
• Sprietsma v. Mercury Marine · 537 U.S. 51 (2002)
• Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co. · 500 U.S. 614 (1991)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• Irvin v. Dowd · 366 U.S. 717 (1961)
• Sheppard v. Maxwell · 384 U.S. 333 (1966)
• Loving v. Virginia · 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
• Estes v. Texas · 381 U.S. 532 (1965)
• J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B. · 511 U.S. 127 (1994)
• Gannett Co. v. DePasquale · 443 U.S. 368 (1979)
• Rice v. Collins · 546 U.S. 333 (2006)
• Plessy v. Ferguson · 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
• Norris v. Alabama · 294 U.S. 587 (1935)
• Smith v. Texas · 311 U.S. 128 (1941)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2019). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).