I don't get this "getting out of jury duty" that evidently exists everywhere. The last time I had duty, the judge didn't let anyone off. He started out on the first day when everyone was called about how it was every citizen's patriotic duty. Then led everyone in singing the anthem and taking the pledge of allegiance, before he swore us in.
If someone had this massive conflict, he'd say, "We'll work something out", even for self-employed contractors. And people who had weddings and so forth, he'd defer it, but not just cancel it. They let me work mine after the busy season, but didn't just let me off altogether. I was in the jury panel about the same time as a mass murder was coming to trial. I was disappointed not to be on that jury, but then, it wouldn't have mattered, all the defendants plead guilty at the open of the trial.
I got on a # of jurys, but only because the defense ran out of exceptions, with the pool of jurors ~50% white men. And on the 3 or 4 juries I served on, they were 8 or 9 women, with 3 or 4 men, never the opposite. I also found if I wore a nice suit to court as a juror, I would be the first one the defense would toss out.
jonathanturley.org
thefederalist.com
