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MEMORANDUM **

Damien Johnson filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2000) petition for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause was violated when a state prosecutor used peremptory challenges to excuse two prospective male jurors solely because of their gender. Because the state court’s resolution is neither contrary to nor an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law as determined by the United States Supreme Court, we affirm the judgment of the district court denying the motion.

In April 2001, Johnson was convicted in California state court of willfully inflicting corporal injury on his former live-in girlfriend, under Cal.Penal Code § 273.5(a) (West 1999). During jury selection, Johnson made a motion objecting to the prosecutor’s use of peremptory challenges to remove two male jurors. Johnson’s motion was made pursuant to People v. Wheeler, 22 Cal.3d 258 , 148 Cal.Rptr. 890 , 583 P.2d 748 (Ca.1978), the California state case procedurally analogous to Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). The trial court rejected the Wheeler motion. The state court of appeal affirmed, and the Supreme Court…