Name: What We Lose With Jury Trials on Hold
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What We Lose With Jury Trials on Hold

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JoinSign inShare this postWhat We Lose With Jury Trials on Holdthedispatch.comCopy linkTwitterFacebookEmailMay 6, 2020Share this postWhat We Lose With Jury Trials on Holdthedispatch.comCopy linkTwitterFacebookEmailLast week, likely for the first time in our history, we held no jury trials—not in my courtroom or in any other courtroom across the country. We have had jury trials, in every state in the union, for hundreds of years—since before we ratified the Constitution, before Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. The jury trial is part of the fabric of who we are as a nation: John Adams first became famous for representing British soldiers before a Boston jury; Hamilton and Burr first grew to loathe each other in front of a New York jury; and Lincoln first perfected his plainspoken prose “riding circuit” with the judges and juries of rural Illinois. We will miss our jury trials—now more than ever—because they are, as Adams once called them, the “heart and lungs” of our democracy.&nbsp;12 Angry MeneverymeJuries aren’t perfect, to be sure. For years, juries across the country treated black citizens differently than white ones. Juries are also famously unpredictable. I’m reminded of a lawyer who thought a juror was scowling at him during closing arguments. He was sure the juror was against him. After the jury ruled in his favor, he asked the juror about her scowl, and she explained that she had agreed with everything he was saying—and that the displeasure she was evincing was directed not at his client, but at his opponent.&nbsp;veredictumA few weeks ago, I excused a jury that had served during a long and difficult trial by telling them this: “I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud to share my American citizenship with 14 other people than I have been to share it with each of you. I hope that you can take this experience home with you to your families. And, despite what some people might say or think about our country, maybe you will take this in your heart as a kind of emblem of how alive and well our democracy really is.”areRoy K. Altman is a federal judge serving in the Southern District of Florida.Photograph by Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group/Getty Images.Like this postShare this postWhat We Lose With Jury Trials on Holdthedispatch.comCopy linkTwitterFacebookEmail9 CommentsFor your security, we need to re-authenticate you.Click the link we sent to , or .Expand full commentExpand full commentNo posts© 2022 The Dispatch ∙ ∙ &nbsp;is the home for great writingThis site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please or unblock scripts

JoinSign inShare this postWhat We Lose With Jury Trials on Holdthedispatch.comCopy linkTwitterFacebookEmailMay 6, 2020Share this postWhat We Lose With Jury Trials on Holdthedispatch.comCopy linkTwitterFacebookEmailLast week, likely for the first time in our history, we held no jury trials—not in my courtroom or in any other courtroom across the country. We have had jury trials, in every state in the union, for hundreds of years—since before we ratified the Constitution, before Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. The jury trial is part of the fabric of who we are as a nation:...

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Roy K. Altman

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