In Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), this Court developed a three-step inquiry to determine whether a party's peremptory strikes were unconstitutionally motivated by discriminatory purpose. The Supreme Court of Arizona and the Ninth Circuit are split on whether a judge can deviate from this process with judicial speculation about the prosecutor's proffered reasons for a strike. This petition implicates this split and presents the question of whether a court can use its own speculation to supplant facts necessary to make findings at each step.

Whether a court can use its own speculation to supplant facts necessary to make findings at each step of the Batson inquiry