# Bush Called For Jury Duty **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 1, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583 "2005-12-01T18:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/21 "2005-12-02T01:03:04Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > The flip side to that is that there will be those jurors who wouldn’t dare contradict the prez, and just vote whichever way he voted. Or the opposite: vote the other way because they feel they have to oppose him personally. I feel it is the President’s responsibility — Democrat or Republican, nothing personal against any candidate — to turn up when he is called, disruption or no disruption. It is his duty as much as it is that of any other U.S. citizen, though he may claim hardship (to the extent that anybody in that jury pool is permitted). Then the _attorneys_ may disqualify him during jury selection if _they_ perceive a potential problem; that’s what jury selection is for. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/22 "2005-12-02T01:11:29Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > It is his home state after all. One of 'em, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/23 "2005-12-02T02:42:17Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > It is his home state after all. They do still like him there, right? Well, not universally. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/24 "2005-12-02T03:22:10Z")
Would Bush have to bring in Rumsfeldt and Cheney into the jury room to tell him what decision to make there also? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/25 "2005-12-02T03:41:08Z")
> [@Madd Maxx](#): > > Didn’t Kerry just get called and serve as foreman on a trial in his home state? > [Yup!](http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/23/kerry.juryduty.ap/) At least Kerry was man enough to do his time, militarily and civilly. Give it a rest, **Maxx**. Bush did his military duty. That horse has been beaten so much there’s nothing left but hair and bones. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/26 "2005-12-02T13:59:19Z")
> [@](#): > > (AP)Texas jury trial to be held at Camp David. Due to the rumors that President Bush has put off jury duty because of his position, it has been decided to move the whole trial to Camp David. Judge Montgomery J. Woolford has agreed to this unusual request. The case selected to be heard is the jaywalking trial of one Bobby Jo Kennedy, a local Crawford homemaker. The judge, 2 bailiffs, prosecutor, court appointed attorney and 11 jurors along with Ms. Kennedy will be flown to Camp David next Wednesday for the trial. Mr. Bush was scheduled to be at Camp David on that particular day. Mr. Bush proclaimed after the announcement was made “Every American deserves a fair trial, even if their last name is Kennedy. I am sure that a Kennedy has been found innocent in the past, it could happen again some day”. It could happen… ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/27 "2005-12-02T23:19:44Z")
Seriously, Bush, and any other sitting president, should avoid jury duty. Just think of the politics. What if it were a drug case, an assault, or some other, “serious” crime? Even if Bush felt personal doubts as to someone’s guilt, he would be under a lot of pressure not to appear, “soft on crime,” or whatever. All I know is that if I were a defendany, I wouldn’t want a president, senator, DA, or anyone above a representative to the state assembly sitting in that jury box. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/28 "2005-12-03T00:08:03Z")
Yeah, but that’s for jury selection to decide. During the _voir dire_ phase, either of the attorneys can reject a President or a Senator from their case if they think he’d unduly influence it. I think either attorney would consider it pretty much a crap shoot: will he stick to the party line in the face of the evidence? or overcompensate? or what? Party politics aside, there’s still civil cases. A President or Senator’s individual vote would matter less when the decision needn’t be unanimous. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/29 "2005-12-04T00:14:13Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Yeah, but that’s for jury selection to decide. During the _voir dire_ phase, either of the attorneys can reject a President or a Senator from their case if they think he’d unduly influence it. I think either attorney would consider it pretty much a crap shoot: will he stick to the party line in the face of the evidence? or overcompensate? or what? > > Party politics aside, there’s still civil cases. A President or Senator’s individual vote would matter less when the decision needn’t be unanimous. Since any half intelligent defense attorney will remove Bush, what’s the posint of wasting his or anyone else’s time to sit around for a day, be rejected from any jury he might become a part of, and go home? ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/30 "2005-12-04T01:35:36Z")
If you applied that logic to anybody whose presence on a jury is questionable, or to anybody who felt they were “wasting their time” because the defense attorney would object to them, who’d be left in the jury pool? A President should jump through the same hoops as the rest of us. He votes, he obeys the law, he has the same rights and duties as another citizen, and if he wants out of jury duty, let his chief of staff write a letter like the rest of us do, and if he doesn’t, he does his duty. I don’t see it as a big deal. Those Secret Service guys are gonna get paid whether they’re guarding him in the deliberation room or bowling downstairs at the White House. I maintain this to be true no matter who is President, so to me it isn’t about Bush particularly. If it were I’d make some snarky comment about how he can’t do jury duty because he’s working for a political campaign, and then later he’d claim he was on jury duty, providing his dental records and pay stub as proof of attendance. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583/31 "2005-12-04T14:51:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Can’t Bush just serve in the National Guard instead of going to jury duty? Does military service excuse one? Bush is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces during war time afterall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-called-for-jury-duty/333583.md?page=1)