The desiccated Supreme Court today overturned the death sentence of Allen Snyder, a black Louisiana man convicted of murdering his wife's lover in 1996.

In a 7-2 decision penned by poncey Justice Samuel Alito, the court ruled that the state trial judge erred when he allowed prosecutors to strike a specific black juror, a man who they said was being dismissed because he was a college student worried about missing class, not because he was black. The Supreme Court reacted with skepticism to that claim, and rightfully so: All five black jurors in Snyder's jury pool were dismissed, leaving an all-white group of 12. Then, throughout the court proceedings, which took place only months after the racially charged OJ Simpson trial, the lead prosecutor reminded the jury often of the "similarities" between the Simpson case and Snyder's case.