In Bostick v. South Carolina, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a case involving an African-American man named Solomon Bostick who was convicted of murder in 1960 by an all-white jury in South Carolina. The main issue at hand was whether the systematic exclusion of black people from juries violated his constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that it did indeed violate his rights and overturned his conviction. The court found that despite there being no explicit policy excluding black jurors, statistical evidence showed a clear pattern of racial discrimination in jury selection over many years. This constituted de facto discrimination which is as unconstitutional as de jure (legal) discrimination according to previous rulings such as Brown v Board of Education. This ruling reaffirmed and strengthened earlier decisions on this issue like Norris v Alabama (1935), where similar patterns were identified but not acted upon due to lack of proof for intentional discrimination.

In the dissenting opinion for Bostick v. South Carolina, Justice Brennan argued that the majority's decision failed to adequately protect Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. He contended that a person should not be deemed to have consented to a search merely because they did not object when law enforcement officers asked for permission. According to him, this approach ignored the inherent power imbalance between police and citizens, which could coerce individuals into compliance even if they would prefer not to consent. Furthermore, he believed that it was unrealistic and unfair to expect ordinary citizens without legal training or knowledge of their constitutional rights under pressure situations with law enforcement officials present. Thus, he disagreed with the majority's ruling in favor of South Carolina on these grounds.