Court Hears La. Jury Bias Case

And Justice David H. Souter seemed astounded by the trial judge's reasoning that Williams was not making a racial appeal when referring to the Simpson case because, the judge said, Williams did not mention that both Simpson and Snyder are black.

"Now, that is not a critical mind at work, is it?" Souter dryly asked Louisiana Assistant Attorney General Terry M. Boudreaux.

"I would suppose not, your honor," Boudreaux replied.

Williams, a controversial figure who once posed for Esquire magazine with a model of an electric chair adorned with the photos of men he sent to death row, never specifically mentioned Simpson's name as the jury deliberated whether Snyder deserved life in prison or death. But his reference to a defendant in a white Ford Bronco and the most famous murder case were unmistakable.

In response to a question from Justice John Paul Stevens about the relevance of the Simpson reference, Bright called it "the most racially polarizing case in the country."

Scalia said maybe the prosecutor was simply referring to the similarities of the cases -- but the justice incorrectly convicted Simpson and misstated the Snyder case when he said it was "also a case in which a man killed his wife with a knife."

Boudreaux agreed that the reference to Simpson was "not an appeal to race, but it was an appeal to what was a historical fact."

But Boudreaux had been stopped earlier by a question from Roberts.

"Do you think the prosecutor would have made the analogy if there had been a black juror on the jury?"

There was silence in the court during Boudreaux's long pause. "I think he would have, your honor," Boudreaux finally said.

The justices yesterday also returned their first opinions of the term, both unanimously. They ruled for a railroad company in a dispute over property taxes and upheld an enhanced sentence for a man under the federal Armed Career Criminal Act.

The cases are CSX Transportation v. State Board of Equalization and Logan v. U.S.