Young

I. INTRODUCTION

Under the California Racial Justice Act of 2020 (Stats. 2020, ch. 317, § 1) (the Racial Justice Act or the Act), “[t]he state shall not seek or obtain a criminal conviction or seek, obtain, or impose a sentence on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin.” (Pen. Code,1 § 745, subd. (a).) We are called upon in this writ proceeding to address as a matter of first impression the discovery provision of the Racial Justice Act, which allows a defendant, “[u]pon a showing of good cause,” to obtain evidence from the prosecution relevant to a potential violation of the Act. (§ 745, subd. (d).)

All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 Based on evidence presented at his preliminary hearing, Young argued below that racial profiling in a traffic stop led to his arrest for the offense of possession of Ecstasy for sale. He also pointed to publicly available statistics showing that, statewide, blacks are more likely to be searched during the course of traffic stops than other citizens. On this showing, he brought a motion under the Racial Justice Act seeking discovery relating to charging decisions in cases he claims are comparable to…