The Political Crucible of Motherhood

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day. I did. I got to speak to my mother on the phone. I went out with my family for brunch (and didn't THAT feel like a treat, after so many weekends where Rob had to work instead of spending the weekend with his family.) Then a movie ("Waitress," recommended) and a walk after dinner.

Here is a thought-provoking essay (belatedly) in honor of the day, and both the mothers (and motherly-type people) and children on my friends list. And I'll take a note from this essayist and offer my thanks here to Fiona and Delia, who made me a mother, and, I think, a much better person. I love you, girls.

Thanks to minnehaha B. for the link.

Jury Duty starts today

I have jury duty for two weeks. I have no idea whether I will be picked for a jury. I don't know whether they'd avoid choosing me since I probably know a bit more about the law than the average citizen (having worked in a law office for fifteen years, and being married to an attorney) or whether they would find that attractive. I'm quite a bit more educated than the average citizen, too. So, I'll bring a bunch of books and I'll see what happens. I'm glad to be called. I've never been before, and I've been curious.

It'll also be nice, frankly, to have a break from the job.

At this point, I plan to take the light rail (don't know where I could park the bike, put my helmet, etc.) I'll miss my daily bicycle rides.

Booted off my first jury panel

It was interesting. I spent the morning in the basement of the court building. I had brought reading material but ended up reading the magazines they have scattered around.

Around 2:00 p.m., I was called up for voir dire for a civil medical malpractice case. After about an hour of questioning the potential jurors, they struck four (peremptory challenge). I was one of the four stricken. One of my attorneys had been on a medical malpractice case, suing the defendant, within the past six months. That, I expect, was the reason why.

So, I will not be hearing that case. I went back to the basement and read magazines ("Read JLo's secrets for Maintaining Fabulous Thighs!") until it was time to go home.

Since amethistdolphin asked about the U.S. jury system . . .

For those on my friends list who are not U.S. citizens and may be curious . . .

The names of potential jurors are gathered from voting records and driving license lists. Names are chosen randomly from those lists. Years may pass and you never get called (this is the first time I've been called). The court sends you a summons--that's a legal document telling you that you are obligated to show up at a certain date and time--and you fill out a basic questionnaire about yourself and send it in. You have the right to ask to reschedule if there is some reason you cannot appear when summoned. I did that, when I was first summoned in April, because I was out of the state the first day I was supposed to appear. The court let me reschedule to this week in May. You show up, and they take your name down, and you wait in a large room with several hundred other people who have also been called that week. You get an informative booklet and watch an orientation video. Then, as cases are scheduled for trial, the judge for each case requests that a group of potential jurors come up to their court room. They choose those people by randomly shuffling the names in the larger potential jury pool.

You go into the courtroom, and the judge introduces himself/herself and members of the courtroom staff, and the attorneys for the plaintiff and the defendant. The attorneys have the chance to ask you questions--that is "voir dire." After they have asked their questions, which are used both to lay the groundwork for their cases and to try to determine whether any of the potential jurors would not be able to deliberate fairly, they have the opportunity to ask the judge to remove a small subset of the potential jurors from the pool. Today, I was one of those removed, after the questioning was done. Then the remaining jurors are sworn in, and the trial begins.

I will report to the jury pool tomorrow, and for the rest of the week. I may have to report next week, too. It is entirely likely that I will be picked for another jury and will have to sit through a trial this week. Once you have served on a jury, you are not called to serve again for four years (with this court, that is, which is the Fourth Judicial district court for the State of Minnesota. It is entirely possible that I might be called for the Federal court system--that's the system for U.S.A. as a whole, rather than one of the fifty states, like Minnesota--they are two different court systems).

It is an essential part of our judicial system, the fact that cases are decided, as the saying goes, "by a jury of one's peers." That means that when people go to court, the cases are decided by citizen jurors, people just like them. It's a great system, really, and a bedrock of our democracy. I'm actually glad to have the chance to serve.

Interestingly enough, this LiveJournal came up during voir dire. My writing was mentioned during questioning--they were asking about people who had medical education, and I mentioned that I had done quite a bit of medical research to write my second novel. They asked about hobbies, and I told the attorneys about keeping this LiveJournal. (Amusingly enough, when another woman said her hobby was reading, the judge asked her if she'd read my book. No, she replied, but she'd be interested in learning more about it.)

Plaintiff's attorney asked us to name three things that were most important to us, and something about ourselves that not many people would know. I said the three things were my family, my faith and my writing. I said that given the fact that I was pretty open on this LiveJournal, that there wasn't much that I kept hidden about myself, but one thing I thought I'd mention was that my training as a writer had probably done a lot to train me to synthesize information and to be a rather keen and analytical observer.