McCleskey v. Kemp

McCleskey v. Kemp was a landmark 1987 U.S. Supreme Court case where Warren McCleskey, an African American man, challenged the death penalty in Georgia, arguing that it was applied in a racially discriminatory manner. He presented statistical evidence showing that defendants who killed white victims were more likely to receive the death penalty. The Supreme Court ruled against McCleskey, stating that his evidence did not prove that his specific sentence was influenced by racial bias. This decision underscored the difficulty of proving systemic discrimination in the legal system and affirmed the constitutionality of the death penalty despite statistical disparities.