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“Is it another candidate who isn’t considered because a team doesn't have the time because they have to interview a minority candidate?” said Jason Bent, law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. “Or is it a team’s first choice for a position who has to wait for them to interview minority candidates? Does that make you an aggrieved person? It’s not clear.”

“I think he did the right thing,” said Chicago-Kent College of Law professor and Batson expert Nancy Marder. “That is not the case with most Batson challenges I have seen. Usually, the judge accepts the reason as long as it appears, on the surface, to be race-neutral, but here, the judge didn't do that, and the judge was right not to do that.”

“I don’t think this really is a partisan issue. This should be an American issue,” says Harold Krent, professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. “We want to encourage people to vote, and we don’t want to dampen participation in our republic. My fear is that the Supreme Court will do that.”