Obama to skip jury duty in Chicago suburbs

[jefferson_dem]

Obama to skip jury duty in Chicago suburbs
President has busy week ahead with State of Union speech on Wednesday
updated 9:25 p.m. ET, Sun., Jan. 24, 2010

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - President Barack Obama will be skipping jury duty after being summoned in Illinois.

A White House official said Sunday that the president has alerted the court he won't be able to make it.

Obama was summoned for jury duty at the Bridgeview courthouse in suburban Chicago starting Monday. The summons had arrived at the Obama home on Chicago's South Side.

With his first State of the Union speech set for Wednesday, Obama has a busy week ahead.

The president is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35051076/ns/politics-white_house/?ocid=twitter

[hobbit709]

1. When will the RW blather start

about him shirking his "civic duties"

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. Have the Obamas not changed their residency to DC? eom

[harkadog]

15. He has a home in Chicago which is his legal residence.

[babylonsister]

3. The nerve of him!

:hi:

[cutlassmama]

5. If he no longer resides there he doesn't have to attend nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Technically he does reside there

But this falls truly in the category of Navy Dependent and Hawaii, and California.

It is actually a valid one.

[ShortnFiery]

7. Shhh! You'll deny the "cute" story about how President Obama is really

no different than those of us within the peasant class. :P

[karynnj]

12. You don't think he has a valid excuse not to serve on a jury?

The fact is that any one can ask to be excused for medical or employment reasons - certainly being president of the US counts.

But, as you think that only the peasant class served and as you routinely speak of a wealthy Democratic Senator as being elitist, I thought you might find this interesting. Senator Kerry DID serve on a jury in 2005. He was called, it was a recess, he did not make up an excuse and went.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/11/23/as_foreman_kerry_wins_praise_from_fellow_jurors/

A Republican juror was impressed enough by him she told the paper she regretted her vote.

With the President, it is different - he is always at work.

[Captain Hilts]

19. I got called to a federal jury in Norfolk even though I told them, accurately, I lived 4 hours away.

[flvegan]

8. IMPEACHMENT NOW!!!

Let the idiocy commence from the RW idiots.

[Hekate]

16. ... they're already here...

:eyes:

[whistler162]

9. Usually they allow one postponement!

So he better appear next time!

[LiberalFighter]

10. He could probably just request an exemption for a minimum of 3 years.

I was excused from further jury duty calls after responding that my hearing loss may be a problem if there is an acoustic problem in the courtroom.

[ChicagoSuz219]

11. They don't usually take lawyers/lawmakers anyway. n/t

[jberryhill]

23. Yeah... That's what I thought

...until after three days of an absolute farce of a trial, my clients were looking for help elsewhere.

They'll take lawyers on a jury. The most excruciating thing was that the lawyers for both sides were so awful on direct examination, I found myself fighting the urge to object to their malformed questions.

[ChicagoSuz219]

25. Exactly my point...

...not that they wouldn't be summoned, but that most lawyers will get rid of them in voir dire. (Did I spell that right?)

[AngryAmish]

27. I once had 2 judges in my venire

I kept them, defense bounced them.

[jberryhill]

28. I was angry at the judge, really...

It was a personal injury / insurance coverage case.

We had the plaintiff's own expert on a videotape deposition state, without hesitation, that he could not say to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the condition in question was aggravated by the accident.

I looked at the judge and wondered, "And you didn't grant a motion to dismiss on this turkey?"

[treestar]

13. I've never heard of that before

Seriously, any president could be summoned for jury duty - it would happen to Obama

No lawyer is going to want the PoTUS on the jury anyway

[Captain Hilts]

20. Depends on the type of crime being tried. nt

[Arkana]

14. "I can't report for jury duty...I'm too busy RUNNING THE DAMN COUNTRY."

Seriously, there's no exception for the President of the United States?

[backscatter712]

17. I think the President of the United States has an excuse...

I don't think any lawyer or judge would want him serving on a jury anyways - it'd be a huge disruption to the trial, and Obama's in a critical job that can't be set aside for jury duty, or people could DIE.

[beyurslf]

18. One assumes the defendant (and maybe even a few jurors or attorneys)

may not be able to pass the security clearances needed to sit next to the president all day by the SS anyway.

[inna]

21. unrecommended for ridiculousness

[starroute]

22. My husband was once in a jury pool along with our Congressman

They didn't want the Congressman on a jury though -- apparently they try to avoid lawyers in general. Figure they know too much about the law and are prone to thinking they're smarter than the attorneys on the case.

[Retrograde]

24. "my job requires me to be out of town until Jan. 20, 2013

and to be on 24-hour call". I think he has an out.

In my county, you get a questionnaire before the summons asking if you have any potential conflicts. And even the summons asks whether you'll actually be in the area for your time - I've had them reschedule me when I said I was planning to be gone during my week. Of course this varies by area, but I'd be surprised if Obama couldn't get out legitimately.

[CBGLuthier]

26. I would love to see the official paper work

Under reason, it should state:

Otherwise engaged in fixing this broke-ass country.