Jay Shawn Johnson v. California

Decided June 13, 2005. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 04-6964 · 545 U.S. 162 (2005) · Cited 1,022 times

Holding

California’s “more likely than not” standard is an inappropriate yardstick by which to measure the sufficiency of a prima facie case of purposeful discrimination in jury selection.

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 8–1.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

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)
• Purkett v. Elem · 514 U.S. 765 (1995)
• McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green · 411 U.S. 792 (1973)
• St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks · 509 U.S. 502 (1993)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Hernandez v. New York · 500 U.S. 352 (1991)
• Pennsylvania v. Finley · 481 U.S. 551 (1987)
• Smith v. Robbins · 528 U.S. 259 (2000)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Furnco Construction Corp. v. Waters · 438 U.S. 567 (1978)
• Dickerson v. United States · 530 U.S. 428 (2000)
• Strauder v. West Virginia · 100 U.S. 303 (1880)
• Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust · 487 U.S. 977 (1988)
• Alexander v. Louisiana · 405 U.S. 625 (1972)
• Smith v. Texas · 311 U.S. 128 (1941)
• Whitus v. Georgia · 385 U.S. 545 (1967)
• Avery v. Georgia · 345 U.S. 559 (1953)
• United States Ex Rel. Vajtauer v. Commissioner of Immigration · 273 U.S. 103 (1927)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Flowers v. Mississippi · 588 U.S. 284 (2019)
• Davis v. Ayala · 576 U.S. 257 (2015)
• Rice v. Collins · 546 U.S. 333 (2006)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

John Paul Stevens’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2005). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).