I mean, that’s it. District Court, so probably nothing too exciting will come of it. I was empaneled on a civil jury back in 2000 and it was less than one day.
BUT- what I really wanted to share is my intense desire to show up for Jury Duty with a t-shirt that says “Ask Me About Jury Nullification”
Every time I’ve been call for jury duty the instructions have always included “No T-shirts” period, in addition language that prohibits political, controversial, and vulgar slogans.
The only time I witnessed this kind of rule in action was at a JP court about five years ago. A fellow prospective juror was wearing a t-shirt under an unbuttoned button-down shirt. I couldn’t see what was printed on the t-shirt, but he was told to either remove the t-shirt entirely or to put it on inside out. He went to the bathroom and returned with the regular shirt buttoned up, so I don’t know which course he took.
As I’m sure you know, any mention of nullification could get you removed from a jury pretty quick. I would prefer to keep it to myself and use nullification (if warranted) in the deliberations if it goes that far 
Of course jurisdictions vary and you might have different rules in yours.
That would be the fun part.
On the one hand, I understand that subverting the courts is no way to have a functioning society.
On the other hand, nothing in the 1A says I give up my rights when within 100m of a courthouse.
On the third hand, I’m pretty sure a “Ask me about Jury Nullification” t-shirt would get me out of jury duty, one way or another.
What about plain whit T-shirts underneath a regular shirt but showing? Without that, the noise from my chattering teeth this time of year would probably be disrupting.
Judges aren’t interested in prohibiting clothing choices that keep you warm. They’re interested in preventing prospective jurors who want to fuck with the process of picking an impartial jury.
I would be freezing too in that case, but they probably consider it ‘underwear’. Thinking about it, for some reason it’s an ‘undershirt’ to my mind in those circumstances, but if it’s the only shirt I’m wearing it’s a ‘T-shirt’ But it could be any color also.
AIUI, what is allowed is virtually entirely at the discretion of the judge. They don’t want t-shirts because they want the jurors to look presentable, but I doubt a judge would send you home if you showed up in a plain t-shirt on a nice day. He might ask you to wear something a little more presentable if you were coming back for another day.
T-shirts with prints and slogans are another matter entirely, and whether it’s and Eddie the ‘Ed or a Jury Nullification t-shirt, that’s probably going to get you in some degree of hot water.
All the above is just my understanding/assumptions, not meant to be stated with any real conviction.
By the way, I got an email at 5pm last night that my jury duty had been canceled.
Isn’t that the point, to get sent home ASAP?
In super casual Santa Barbara they’d run out of jurors pretty quickly if they didn’t allow casual wear. I have rarely seen anyone close to dressed up. I’ve also never saw anyone wearing a profane, obscene or political t-shirt nor anyone super scantily clad which might be testing things.
pretty common. They have to have enough jurors standing by for as many trials that are scheduled. Some go away for various reasons (continuance or settlement being the most common) but the court system never knows in advance how many. I call tell you from personal experience it’s a HUGE waste of time and resources to be sitting in a courtroom with nothing to do because “there are not enough potential jurors.”
I’ve been called for jury duty for a civil trial March 23.
My wife was called last year and it was cancelled a couple of days before. I suspect in these civil trials, the thought of taking your case before a jury focusses both parties minds on getting a settlement.
Well, aft 38 years of this, I’m a bit cynical, but the defense attorneys are being paid by the hour, so they like to go as far down the road as possible before they recommend resolution. The more sophisticated insurers and defendants will look for ways to shut it down early if the plaintiffs have a good case. Less cynically, often the court doesn’t rule on crucial motions until shortly before trial. Those rulings can dramatically change the parties’ outlook.
I ended up on a Federal jury where the litigants settled the day after voir dire. It very much looked like they were playing chicken with each other. It also very much looked like the assigned judge both suspected that and was egging them on to settle when he was talking about the case after we were empaneled.
It was a real estate fraud case in an insular immigrant community where it looks like there had been an at least a potential honeypot trap and resulting love triangles.The judge kept going on about how “interesting” and “juicy” the case was with all the conflicting affairs that were going to be drilled down on, kinda laying it on thick while the litigants sat there grimly stone-faced.
I was slightly disappointed (because I was a government employee who got paid my normal wages for jury duty and I find it an interesting diversion from work), but not at all surprised when I was called and dismissed the very next day.
They have to continue negotiating and they also have to follow the process as if it’s going to trial. It shouldn’t be surprising that they finish the negotiations at the hard stop.
The court I work part time in is sees a municipal court. In my state there are no jury trials at that level so this is about defendants for the most part. The judge only has two basic rules about dress. No hats and no underwear worn as outerwear. That basically means he’s kicking you out if you come in wearing a white t-shirt. He’s never said anything about graphic tees or white shirts with logos. I’m sure he would have a problem with anything vulgar or contemptible on a shirt but I’ve never witnessed it. Being casual isn’t an issue beyond that unless you are a lawyer. I’ve seen him dress down (pun intended) a lawyer for not wearing a tie.
An old friend of mine grew up in Florida in the 60’s. He has a story about jury duty there. The notice said that he was supposed to wear a tie. He did not get very far arguing about how stupid that was.
That ship sailed a long time ago.
They don’t, however, allow hats or even beanies.
What a dumb cluck.
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