The jury foreperson: this is America...

[rlegro]

34. I once was summoned to jury duty....

During voir dire, the defense attorneys asked me in open court about my profession and I said I was a journalist. Boom! The process was halted while the attorneys and a bailiff accompanied me into the federal judge's private chambers, along with a court reporter and her steno machine. The judge, formerly the state's Republican attorney general, grilled me for 5 or 10 minutes about my impartiality. Yup, I had covered trials as a newsman. Yes, I had personal opinions. But as a journalist I said I was trained to be fair-minded and, while I knew the name of a defendant in the case (a public figure), I could listen to the case and make a fair decision. No, I couldn't, because I was struck from the jury. I had been struck in numerous other court proceedings but never with the active participation of the presiding judge at any level. Oh, yes, those in the innermost legal and political systems believe educated and informed people largely are inscrutable jury prospects. They want jurists who are not so much peers as peered at.