California Supreme Court Orders Historic Challenge to Death Penalty to Move Forward

Today, in Office of State Public Defender et al. v. Bonta, the California Supreme Court unanimously ordered the Attorney General to show cause why California’s death penalty should not be declared unconstitutional because it is infected with racial bias.

The Office of the State Public Defender, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, American Civil Liberties Union Capital Punishment Project, and the Legal Defense Fund, legal organizations who brought the challenge on behalf of the petitioners, issued the following statement:

We are pleased that today’s order recognizes the compelling evidence establishing that California’s death penalty is administered in a racially discriminatory manner. The Attorney General has previously acknowledged that racial disparities in California’s death penalty are ‘profoundly disturbing’ and agreed that the claims presented in our petition deserve a hearing. The legal issues presented in the petition are of vital importance to the integrity of the criminal legal system as well as to the more than 560 people on California’s death row. We look forward to pursuing a long overdue remedy in the lower court in Sacramento County to address this ongoing stain on our criminal justice system.