Supreme Court rules in United States v. Armstrong that prosecutors bear near-impossible burden in selective prosecution claims

The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Armstrong that defendants claiming selective prosecution must provide "clear evidence" that the prosecution was both motivated by discriminatory intent and that similarly situated individuals of a different group were not prosecuted. Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote the majority, setting a high evidentiary bar that effectively shielded most federal prosecutions from selective prosecution challenges. The ruling became a central precedent in debates over DOJ targeting of political adversaries.