Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Indiana Supreme Court Upholds Striking Clergy From Jury Panel
In Highler v. State of Indiana, (IN Sup. Ct., Oct. 4, 2006), the Indiana Supreme Court held that a prosecutor's decision to use peremptory challenges to strike members of the clergy from a jury panel "because they’re more apt for forgiveness" was permissible. While striking jurors because of their religious affiliation is unconstitutional, the court said that here "the State’s justification for striking [the juror] was not his religious affiliation, but his occupation". Today's Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports on the case.