# can the POTUS get called for jury duty? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807 "2015-04-16T03:34:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/1 "2015-04-16T03:34:27Z")
my friend wants to know what about legislators ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/2 "2015-04-16T03:40:56Z")
Bush was summoned by a state court in Texas, but the judge agreed to postpone his service while he was President. > **[BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush asks for jury service delay](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4494176.stm)** > > A judge in Texas agrees to allow US President George W Bush to put off a jury service summons. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/3 "2015-04-16T03:45:12Z")
Yes, of course. A few years back, [the governor of Illinois was called.](http://business.highbeam.com/392330/article-1P2-4335490/jury-duty-calls-but-governor-not-chosen) He reported but wasn’t needed. Should it ever get so far, many executive officers and legislators would be excused during the voir dire because they are attorneys. There’s no blanket rule against lawyers serving, but the advocates trying the case generally will exercise peremptory challenges to keep them off the jury. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/4 "2015-04-16T03:47:17Z")
Obama was also summoned but excused: [Obama Skipping Jury Duty - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-skipping-jury-duty/) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/5 "2015-04-16T03:48:49Z")
and Chief Justice Roberts got summoned recently: > **[Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts reports for jury duty](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts-reports-for-jury-duty/)** > > The nation's top judicial official showed up to fulfill his civic responsibility ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/6 "2015-04-16T04:11:30Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > my friend wants to know why u lie ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/7 "2015-04-16T05:45:48Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > and Chief Justice Roberts got summoned recently: > > [Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts reports for jury duty - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts-reports-for-jury-duty/) There is a story told of a sitting Chief Justice of Pakistan who was involved in a rent dispute. One day, he appeared as a witness in a case and the Judge, who did not realise who he was admonished him for being evasive. When the Court Reader (think Clerk) told him who he was telling of, he changed it to “you are being evasive…My Lord”. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/8 "2015-04-16T07:40:39Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > and Chief Justice Roberts got summoned recently: > > [Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts reports for jury duty - CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts-reports-for-jury-duty/) Have there been cases in which judges did serve on a jury, maybe even sitting in a courtroom adjacent to their own? ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/9 "2015-04-16T09:43:03Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Have there been cases in which judges did serve on a jury, maybe even sitting in a courtroom adjacent to their own? It appears so. This 2001 [LA Times article](http://articles.latimes.com/2001/jun/03/local/me-6028) notes that, amongst other judges who served jury duty: > [@](#): > > …California Chief Justice Donald R. Wright, who served on a criminal jury in downtown Los Angeles in 1980 Lance Ito, of the OJ Simpson trial, has also served jury duty. The article does not specify if it was in the next courtroom. And here is the [chief justice of the Nevada state Supreme Court](http://www.reviewjournal.com/politics/government/nevada-supreme-court-justice-picked-jury) who was picked for jury service in 2014. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/10 "2015-04-16T10:35:07Z")
In the UK it would not happen: > [@](#): > > You would be ineligible for jury service if you are: > > concerned with the administration of justice > a member of the Forces > **[Exemptions from jury service](https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/exemptions-jury-service)** > > If you're over 18 years old, you can be called for jury service. Some people aren't eligible for jury service or can get excused because of their job. There's no automatic exemption from jury service due to your age. You can ask to be excluded when... ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/11 "2015-04-16T13:04:08Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Have there been cases in which judges did serve on a jury, maybe even sitting in a courtroom adjacent to their own? Yes, absolutely, although it’s unlikely that they’d serve in a courtroom adjacent to their own. I know of an instance where a judge in the Southern District of New York (so a federal judge) was called for jury duty, and actually selected and put on a jury, in state court. The state courthouses are right around the corner from the federal courthouses in Manhattan, so it was \*almost \*adjacent to his own courtroom. ---
**Author:** ![dofe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@dofe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dofe)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/12 "2015-04-16T13:08:16Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Have there been cases in which judges did serve on a jury, maybe even sitting in a courtroom adjacent to their own? I don’t have a cite, but when I was a law clerk one of the senior judges was called in for jury duty in the same courthouse he worked in and (believe it or not) made it through voir dire. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/13 "2015-04-16T14:13:11Z")
So, that’s the current President and his two immediate predecessors who’ve been called. Was Bush the Elder called while President? What about Reagan and Carter? Ford and Nixon? How far back can we go? ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-potus-get-called-for-jury-duty/717807/14 "2015-04-16T14:19:31Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > what about legislators > [@](#): > > John McCain reports for jury duty > > Sen. John McCain reported for jury duty Monday at Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix and the former presidential candidate was initially selected for a panel from which a jury will be chosen. But he was not picked for the trial. > **[John McCain reports for jury duty](https://www.usatoday.com/story/onpolitics/2013/08/12/john-mccain-jury-duty/2644085/)** > > The former presidential candidate jokes as he heads into courtroom.