The California Supreme Court issued a unanimous order today directing the state’s Attorney General to defend the constitutionality of the death penalty in a lower court. The decision forces a legal reckoning over whether capital punishment in the state is unconstitutional due to systemic racial bias.
In the case Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD) v. Bonta, the state’s high court ordered Attorney General Rob Bonta to show cause in the Sacramento County Superior Court. The order requires the state to address evidence presented by a coalition of legal groups arguing that racial discrimination infects how the death penalty is administered.
The legal challenge was filed by a group of prominent civil rights and legal defense organizations, including the OSPD, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California, the ACLU Capital Punishment Project, and the Legal Defense Fund (LDF). The groups brought the petition on behalf of several individuals currently facing capital sentences.
Following the court’s announcement, the petitioners released a joint statement welcoming the opportunity to present their case in court:
“We are pleased that today’s order requires the judiciary to confront the compelling evidence establishing that California’s death penalty is administered in a racially discriminatory manner. 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. 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. We look forward to pursuing a long-overdue remedy in the lower court to address this ongoing stain on our criminal justice system.”
The upcoming proceedings in the Sacramento County Superior Court will mark the first time the state’s judiciary is forced to hold an evidentiary review on these specific claims.
The state currently holds more than 560 individuals on death row, making it the largest capital population in the United States, though an executive moratorium on executions has been in place since 2019. A date for the lower court hearing has not yet been set.
READ: Florida Supreme Court Clears Way For June Execution, Rejects Death Row Inmate’s Appeals
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