Cite as: 528 U. S. 304 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
this Court has recognized only one substantive control over a federal criminal defendant's choice of whom to challenge peremptorily. Under the Equal Protection Clause, a defendant may not exercise a peremptory challenge to remove a potential juror solely on the basis of the juror's gender, ethnic origin, or race. See, e. g., J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B., 511 U. S. 127 (1994) (gender); Hernandez v. New York, 500 U. S. 352 (1991) (ethnic origin); Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (1986) (race). We decline to read into Rule 24, or otherwise impose, the further control advanced by the Government.
We agree, however, with the Government's narrower contention that Rule 24(b) was not violated in this case. Reply Brief 2-3. The Court of Appeals erred in concluding that the District Court's for-cause mistake compelled Martinez-Salazar to challenge Gilbert peremptorily, thereby reducing his allotment of peremptory challenges by one. 146 F. 3d, at 659. A hard choice is not the same as no choice. Martinez-Salazar, together with his codefendant, received and exercised 11 peremptory challenges (10 for the petit jury, 1 in selecting an alternate juror). That is all he is entitled to under the Rule.
After objecting to the District Court's denial of his for-cause challenge, Martinez-Salazar had the option of letting Gilbert sit on the petit jury and, upon conviction, pursuing a Sixth Amendment challenge on appeal. Instead, Martinez-Salazar elected to use a challenge to remove Gilbert because he did not want Gilbert to sit on his jury. This was Martinez-Salazar's choice.3 The District Court did not demand—and Rule 24(b) did not require—that Martinez-Salazar use a peremptory challenge curatively.
In choosing to remove Gilbert rather than taking his chances on appeal, Martinez-Salazar did not lose a peremp-3 The choice would be less hard, of course, if, as Justice Scalia hypothesizes, the "defendant had plenty of peremptories left." See post, at 319 (opinion concurring in judgment).
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