WASHINGTON — Following decades of appeals by a Mississippi man on death row, the Supreme Court issued a clarification Thursday confirming that its 1986 ruling prohibiting racial discrimination in jury selection is still active and theoretically binding.

"We understand that the original prosecution team benefited greatly from securing a conviction, and that acknowledging racial bias would compromise the system's appearance of finality," a judicial spokesperson said. "However, the Court has formally requested that states occasionally pretend the constitutional right to a fair trial applies in practice."

Records indicate that despite the clear 1986 Batson v. Kentucky standard, states have consistently found new ways to achieve the exact same discriminatory outcomes. The decision joins a long tradition of periodic Supreme Court reminders, including the 2005 Foster v. Chatman case in Georgia, which identified "purposeful discrimination" but failed to deter prosecutors from continuing to strike Black jurors using flimsy justifications.

At press time, state officials were reportedly reviewing the latest ruling while drafting a fresh batch of routine, race-neutral excuses for upcoming capital trials, expressing confidence that the new paperwork will take defendants at least another three decades to appeal.