Randall Lamont Griffith, who is African American, was indicted for first-degree robbery in 1982 at the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Kentucky.

The Court was called upon to decide whether its previous decision in Batson v. Kentucky was applicable to litigation that was not yet final or that was pending on direct review (that is, on direct appeal rather than a collateral attack such as by petition for a writ of habeas corpus) when Batson was decided.

Could retroactive Supreme Court decisions be applied selectively to cases pending direct review or not yet final?

The Court reasoned that selective application of new rules violated the principle of treating similarly situated defendants on an equal basis.

The Court also refused to make an exception to the rule of retroactivity in cases where there was a "clean break" with past precedent.