## Facts

- Luis Santiago-Martinez was convicted in federal district court of felony drug offenses.
- During jury selection, the prosecutor used peremptory challenges to strike three prospective jurors.
- Defense counsel objected, asserting the struck venirepersons were obese and that removing them violated equal protection under Batson principles.
- Defense counsel also claimed to be obese, though Santiago-Martinez was not.
- The district court rejected the obesity characterization for at least one venireperson, disagreed with counsel’s claim about his own obesity, and denied the Batson-type challenge.
- Santiago-Martinez appealed, arguing obesity-based peremptory strikes are unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause.

## Issues

1. Whether Batson’s Equal Protection limits on peremptory challenges extend to peremptory strikes allegedly based on obesity.
2. Whether obesity is a classification that triggers heightened equal protection scrutiny such that obesity-based strikes are unconstitutional.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the conviction.
- The court held Batson’s equal protection analysis does not prohibit peremptory strikes based on obesity.
- The court declined to treat obesity as a suspect or quasi-suspect classification warranting heightened scrutiny.
- Because obesity-based distinctions are subject, at most, to rational-basis review, the peremptory strikes were not unconstitutional.

## Legal Principles

- Batson prohibits prosecutorial peremptory challenges based on classifications subject to heightened equal protection scrutiny, beginning with race.
- J.E.B. extends Batson to gender-based peremptory challenges because gender classifications receive heightened scrutiny.
- Peremptory challenges may be used to remove groups or classes generally subject only to rational-basis review.
- Obesity has not been recognized as a suspect or quasi-suspect classification for equal protection purposes; absent heightened scrutiny, Batson does not apply.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit upheld Santiago-Martinez’s conviction, ruling that equal protection limits on peremptory challenges under Batson and J.E.B. do not extend to alleged obesity-based strikes because obesity is not a heightened-scrutiny classification.


United States v. Santiago-Martinez, 58 F.3d 422 (9th Cir. 1995)