In the 1991 case of Georgia v. Thomas McCollum, William Joseph McCollum and Ella Hampton McCollum, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that defense attorneys could not use peremptory challenges to exclude potential jurors based on their race. The defendants in this case were white and had used these challenges to remove African Americans from the jury pool during a trial for murder. The court held that such actions violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment which guarantees all citizens equal protection under law regardless of race or color. This decision extended upon an earlier ruling (Batson v Kentucky) where it was determined prosecutors couldn't exclude potential jurors based on race; now it applied to defense attorneys as well.

In the dissenting opinion for Georgia v. McCollum, Justice Thomas argued that the majority's decision to extend Batson v. Kentucky (1986) to defense attorneys was a misinterpretation of the Equal Protection Clause and an overreach into defendants' rights. He contended that while prosecutors represent state power and thus must not discriminate in jury selection, defense attorneys are private actors representing individual clients whose primary duty is to provide vigorous representation within legal bounds. Therefore, they should be allowed more leeway in selecting jurors who might favor their client's case - even if this involves considering race as one factor among many others. Furthermore, he warned that this ruling could lead to further intrusions on defendants' rights by subjecting other aspects of their trial strategy to scrutiny under equal protection principles.