Cite as: 537 U. S. 322 (2003)
Thomas, J., dissenting
case. I write further to explore two arguments advanced by petitioner that the Court deemed helpful in establishing petitioner's "debatable" entitlement to relief, apparently because the majority's "debatability" inquiry requires a less-thorough review of the record and a more permissive attitude toward a COA movant's representations.
B
As noted, petitioner argues the prosecution struck six blacks—Rand, Kennedy, Bozeman, Fields, Warren, and Boggess—who were similarly situated to unstruck whites. I see no need to repeat Justice Scalia's dissection of petitioner's tales of white veniremen as ambivalent about the death penalty as Kennedy, Bozeman, Warren, and Boggess. Ante, at 350-353 (concurring opinion). However, the major-ity's cursory remark that "three of the State's proffered race-neutral rationales for striking [black] jurors pertained just as well to some white jurors who were not challenged and who did serve on the jury," ante, at 343 (emphasis added), is flatly incorrect and deserves some discussion.
For the three challenged peremptory strikes used on Fields, Warren, and Boggess, petitioner has not even correctly alleged the existence of "similarly situated" white veniremen. The majority's discussion of this subject is misleading, stating that "prosecutors explained that their peremptory challenges against six [black] potential jurors were based on ambivalence about the death penalty; hesitancy to vote to execute defendants capable of being rehabilitated; and the [veniremens'] own family history of criminality." Ibid. The implication is that for each of the six challenged veniremen, the prosecution gave all three reasons as justifications for the use of a peremptory strike. To clarify: Rand, Kennedy, Bozeman, Warren, and Boggess were struck for ambivalence about the death penalty. Fields, Warren, and Boggess were struck for having family mem-
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