Is it possible to not have contempt for the US Judiciary?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

5 years ago I received a preliminary questionnaire concerning my availability to be a juror in federal district court. 5 years later I may now have to report to duty to fulfill my civic duty. 5 FUCKING years!-----or 3—I’m not sure.

I received my first questionnaire in 2007. I also moved in 2007. In spring 2009, I received a 2nd questionnaire, I don’t remember the details but it seemed to relate back to the first questionnaire. In October 2009, I received a juror summons, along with a comprehensive questionnaire full of personal, invasive questions. I returned my questionnaire only to find out that the court system had assigned me to the wrong courthouse. So I need not show up. I received another juror summons in Fall 2010, to the same court (complete with the invasive questions) and was again told that I need not show up as I was in a different division of that federal district. October 2011, I now receive a juror summons (with invasive questionnaire). This time I’m assigned to the correct courthouse.

If I had been randomly selected twice to serve, I would have been disappointed but not upset. I could have accepted my fate and embraced my bad luck. But for the court system to have dragged out the process for 5 FUCKING years is disgusting. I have not tried to shirk my responsibility. I was even willing to report to duty at the original courthouse 2 hours away. Yes, I have contempt for the court system. No, there is no fucking way I’m going to admit that on the questionnaire. I may be stupid but I’m not crazy. You don’t fuck with the judiciary.

In addition to the standard 17 page packet the smarmy bastards have included the following memo:

“You have been summoned for Jury Duty for the United States District Court. Appropriate dress is imperative. The jury instructions address this issue, however, the Court has requested we give additional attention to this matter. This is not a casual affair, but rather a very important Court Proceedings. Please keep this in mind when selecting your attire. This Court would appreciate you dressing in a manner that gives due respect to the Court as well as your service as a juror.”

Yes, the memo included a liberal sprinkling of capital letters. As the memo states, the instruction pamphlet had already apprised potential jurors of what to wear. “Appropriate dress is required. We ask that jurors refrain from wearing shorts, cutoffs, tube tops, T-shirts, tank-tops, or halter tops while on jury duty. Jurors are requested to dress in a manner respectful to the Court. The courtrooms are generally very cool, and you may want to bring a sweater or jacket.” Every word from the Judiciary oozes condescension. Wouldn’t “The courtroom is cool. Dress appropriately and bring a jacket if you feel you might need one.” been a lot less offensive? Do you really want someone serving as a juror who needs to be told that they shouldn’t wear a tube-top and shorts?

I’m sure that I am being hypercritical now. After 5 years you get that way. I can’t even stand the name of the district. Does this look like the middle of Alabama to you?

2

First, the items on the questionnaire you objected to are probably ones you would be asked in person anyway. If something’s going to disqualify you, wouldn’t it be better to do it conveniently by mail rather than having to do so in person? Example: My dad was almost killed in a motor vehicle accident. For some reason my mother tended to get jury duty about every 2 - 3 years. If it was anything to do with an accident she would always truthfully tell them that there was no amount too high for her to award to the victim. She was always excused. Would have been better to do that without having to go to court.

Second, you seem to object to the language about appropriate attire. Believe me, different people have different ideas about what “appropriate” means. One company I worked for had a vague policy about how office attire needed to be “appropriate business casual.” Eventually they had to itemize: shirts must have collars, no exposed midriff, no shorts, no torn jeans, etc., etc. And this was for people who presumably *wanted *to work there and who were nominally adult professionals. Jury duty includes all kinds of people, including some who consider a midriff-baring tank top to be perfectly fine.

3

Stand in the corner and repeat this 100 times;

PEOPLE ARE FUCKING STUPID

They’ve had to make sure they cover this and it is crystal clear, because despite past instructions being less heavy handed, some fair percent of people STILL show up unshowered, wearing shorts, a dirty t-shirt with questionable words on it and carrying a beer. Or wearing short-shorts and a tube top. Then whining about how cold it is in the court room.

I see no “condescension” here. I see an attempt to get it into people’s heads that this isn’t the corner bar and maybe they should dress appropriately.

4

Yes, you’re being hypercritical. This is not particularly condescending. I’m sure that they have to put this in here to keep people from coming in really crappy clothes, and the wording is not really that condescending.

5

I was called for jury duty recently. The notice was quite clear on how to dress and other important details. And even after that about 10 percent were clueless idiots about it. It was obvious to me some people, some without much means or intelligence were trying hard to take this seriously and it brought a tear or two of civic pride to my eye. It was also obvious that a fair number didnt give a shit and weren’t even trying or taking it seriously (these people I wanted to kick in the nuts).

6

Lost my post by accidentally closing my browser, so here’s my summary of points:

  • Wrong jurisdiction screwups suck, but stuff happens.
  • “Personal” information isn’t what bumper stickers you have, it’s writing down that one of the contacts you’ve had with the police was after you were sexually assaulted. Those questionnaires are to minimize the number of people called in needlessly.
  • People really do dress like crap in court.
7

So what? It’s not like you’ve been on a liver transplant list for five years. You had to fill in a couple of forms and then call a number to see if you really had to show up or not.

8

They leave you alone for five years, and that’s a problem?

9

I didn’t have to appear for my scheduled jury duty recently, and I suspect it’s because last time my erect nipples were visible through my tube top.

10

The question about medications is personal IMHO. True, one could be evasive and reply on the order of “I take a prescription pill for chronic pain.” But I don’t get the impression that that’s what they are fishing for.

If they had left me alone for five years that would’ve been nice. Instead they have sent me a yearly questionnaire. As I said, the bothersome thing is that it is a continuation.

I’m not nearly as aggravated now that I have spent the 2+ hours completing the forms. I’m a bit amused at the page about where you enter information about your relationships. It asks for marital status and information about your spouse. I guess there aren’t any unmarried couples in Alabama who are living together. Or none that the courts are interested in.

11

Odd. The Minnesota questionaire for the Jury Duty I completed last winter was very very basic.

I got a continuation/delay in my service summer of last year, delayed until February.

I had to go in once, for a half day, and sit through selection for one trial. I was not selected, but I think based on how I would have answered the questions, I would have been disqualifed*. Had to call in to see if I needed to go in a couple of other days and that was it. Now I’m in the clear for another four years.

Forty year resident of the state and that was the very first time they’d called me in. Now I know other counties here and other states handle it differently, but damn, it’s not all that hard unless you get selected for a long trial or something.

  • Guy threaten someone and interfered with the cops when they arrived, had a history of mental illness, a very long list of witnesses against him and zero witnesses for his defense. Lots of questions about whether any of those things would prejudice you against him. Everyone questioned said “no”. Don’t think I could have honestly said that.

Later I asked someone who served what had happened, and apparently he changed his plea to ‘guilty’ on the second day after some delay on the first day of his trial.

12

Oh , my questionaire was kind of funny. Mostly it revolved around questions about your involvement with the legal system and illegal activities. The kind of questions where a no answer felt good and a yes answer was generally embarassing. For me personally, it was no’s all the way down. For answering the same questions regarding my relatives it was yes all the way down :slight_smile:

13

I was up for a capital murder jury. The form was way over 17 pages. And when you told them that they screwed up with your address, they said you didn’t have to come instead of arguing with you about where you actually lived. Better than most IME.

It makes sense to ask about a spouse, since your father-in-law being a cop is about the same as your father being a cop, etc. As for living together, do you claim that there are SINNERS in the great state of Alabama? I am offended, suh!

As for clothes, when I was on a jury the judge had to instruct one nitwit to be sure to come back the next day dressed decently. We’re lucky the courts don’t require jurors to wear ugh suits.

14

Mine was for a serious murder case. Very serious. We had like only a dozen or so rather generic (rather than case specific) questions on our questionaire. They sent about 80 of us into the courtroom. About 20 were sent up to the jury box. The prosecution and defense probably spent only about an hour asking questions and easily found the whatever number is (I forget) of acceptable jurors they needed.

We were out of there by 11 am and the actual trial started that afternoon for the people chosen. Here in the deep south we don’t pussy foot around with minor details apparently :slight_smile:

15

People in this thread should bear in mind that the summons is for Federal District Court, not state or county court, where most jury trials occur.

My single experience with Federal Court has shown that that’s a whole different ball of wax. Much more tightly controlled. I’m not at all surprised about the detailed dress code, for example. Nor the many years between the preliminary questionaire and the summons. They both happened to me.

16

Dear fervour, I’m confident that once they are aware of your deep reluctance and antagonism to performing your civic duty they will excuse you.

17

WTF?? I served on a Federal Grand Jury for over a year and at no point did they ask me about the bumper stickers on my car or what web sites I visit. I have to say I would not have answered those questions. Telling people what not to wear seems fine to me; asking me how often I use my cell phone or what my license plate says is not fine at all.

18

Thanks for all the responses. Y’all do help me keep perspective. My thread title seems histrionic even to me after having walked away for a while.

It hardly seems fair when the system is so varied. And there is even more variation when you look at each state’s judicial system. Factoring in that whether one has access to a good lawyer can greatly effect an outcome, I’m disheartened —But if writing messages on an internet board can fix the system, I’m on it!

I wonder if your experience was different because you served on a grand jury.

The delayed process coupled with the demand that my questionnaire "must be completed and returned . . .within five (5) days. . . " kills me. —We’ll take years but you have five days. Gad!

Maybe if I had moved between districts as opposed to between divisions in a district my process wouldn’t have been so drawn out.

19

My guess is that the specific questions that you were asked were attempting to determine your suitability to serve on a jury for a particular case (voir dire, in other words). I think that’s the reason for the weirdly specific questions and why they needed the five-day turnaround. And the five-year gap was simply because they didn’t need you earlier, but may now. So it’s not that they have an incredibly slow process but that the earlier questionnaire and the current summons are completely unrelated.

As for the dress code, I served on a criminal jury about five years ago, and had no idea before the first day how to dress. I wear business casual to work (polo shirt, khaki pants, casual shoes) and almost never wear a suit. I think I ended up wearing a long-sleeve shirt and, eventually, sweaters each day because the courtroom was kind of chilly. So I’d actually have appreciated some direction in how to dress.

20

I just went to traffic court a couple weeks ago, and was fairly astonished at the number of people wearing sweatpants and t-shirts. Almost everybody there was in jeans, except for me and a couple others in business casual, and the lawyers were in suits of course.

Sweatpants and jeans! And that was when their own fate was at stake! I imagine this type of person would be likely to show up naked for jury duty, if public nudity weren’t illegal.