The Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a death row inmate in Texas because prosecutors in Dallas County wrongfully kept African-Americans off the jury for his trial. When Thomas Miller-El was convicted of murder in 1986 only one member of the jury was African-American. During jury selection state prosecutors excluded 10 out of 11 eligible African-Americans. Writing for the court Justice David Souter wrote that “when the government’s choice of jurors is tainted with racial bias,” it jeopardizes “the very integrity of the courts” and “undermines public confidence in adjudication.” Up until the 1980s, prosecutors in Dallas County were given a training manual that advised them to remove African-Americans and Jews from death penalty cases on the theory that those groups would be more sympathetic to criminal defendants. As part of its ruling, the Supreme Court court on Monday ordered a new trial for Miller-El.