People can still be kicked off juries for being LGBTQ+. This out congresswoman's bill would end that
People can still be kicked off juries for being LGBTQ+. This out congresswoman's bill would end that
It was introduced by a lesbian representative and backed by four of her gay male colleagues.
What a world. You can choose to be something like a xtian, and few bat an eye, but if you are LGBTQ+, apparently, that could make you unable to be on the jury?
Do US juries need a reason to kick people off? Isn't it like both sides in a case get to throw off a set amount of people?
To me, the whole article seems like the US justice system coming apart at the seams because of it having two publics with two sets of norms.
Pretty much. Both sides go back and forth.
If you never been in jury duty, both sides look at the selected jurors (sometimes 20-40 ppl) and their goal is to shave it to a smaller number, like 12.
Wear gauges? Have purple hair? Be a person of color?
If you don't fit a specific profile to help them win... You're gone.
During one of the selected cases where I was part of being selected, they absolutely asked you questions about your job and family, to get a sense of your background.
So, technically, the USA has what is called "Protected Classes" such as race, ethnicity, and disability who, for the reason of being who they are, cannot be excluded or disadvantaged as a result of.
In most of the USA, sexual orientation or other identities are not in any way protected.
Except for like a buttload of nuances and small changes and court decisions over the course of a century or two.
The point op is making though is that in court a attorny can strike people with minimal reason. Which includes all those protected classes. They have a limited amount of those strikes but they can do whatever they want with them.
For instance, if the person on trial is part of "religion A" and that religion is known to stick together with a cult like fervor an attorney could strike strike a juror of religion A for "cause".
So, because I was reminded of Alito's take, I got curious and was pleasantly surprised by Wikipedia's entry about religions that are lgbtq friendly.
You can be kicked off for any reason.
You cannot be kicked off for any reason. Class and race are invalid grounds for removal, but you can be removed for no reason.
As a person on a jury, I was kicked off as the only person of color. No questions went my way. I just sat there and 3 hours later, I wasn't part of it.
We all can make assumptions that maybe because I match the skin tone of the defendant, and all three police officers were white, and it was post-BLM. But they absolutely won't say that. And why would they?
There are more protected classes than economic status and race at the federal level and some states have expanded classes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_group?wprov=sfti1#United_States
You cannot be removed from a jury ‘for no reason’. A judge may remove you from a jury if they believe a juror has bias or contact toward or with either the defendant. Or if the judge believes you are unwilling or incapable of following the law.
You can however be not selected for a jury via two means, a challenge for cause or a peremptory challenge. A challenge for cause is when the lawyer believes you have a genuine prejudice or bias against the defendant. A peremptory challenge is where lawyers can basically ask a judge to remove any juror from the selection pool, they only get a set number of these and they can’t violate the protected classes mentioned earlier, but they can be muuuuuch more loosely applied during proceedings.
IANAL I just spent a few min researching and watched that one cgp video about jury nullification a while back. And voir dire is fun to say.
Lololol so is she going to change how juries work or is she going to try and cut out a very narrow exception that's inherently unfair?
Edit: ahh this is in the state house, won't ever pass, and is just a dog and pony show for team D.
What are you even talking about?
State house? Did you click on the right article? This is in the US House of Representatives.