Robert: Sorry, ain’t buyin’ it .
She couldn’t be impartial because SHE’S AGAINST CRIME? Look, there were plenty of people there who made up some story for the sake of beating jury duty—but no one in that room believed she couldn’t be impartial in that particular case because SHE WAS AGAINST CRIME.
If she couldn’t be impartial because she had prosecuted too many cases of a similar nature—as one potential juror (a district attorney) argued—then fine. If she couldn’t be impartial because she was herself the victim of the crime the defendant was being tried for, and the memories were too raw—understandable. If she couldn’t treat a police officer like any other witness because she had been a repeated target of police harassment or brutality, that too would have proved very effective. (As it did in at least two cases.)
If she just wanted out because she was otherwise occupied or courtrooms gave her the creeps (strange choice of profession, then, no?), then make up a story about a sick relative or chronic pain or her English being questionable (which it was). Sad, but so it goes.
But because SHE WAS AGAINST CRIME?
Who should take her seriously as a lawyer when she is willing to state publicly that BEING AGAINST CRIME is a fit reason not to sit as a juror? Where then shall we go for jurors—the psych ward at Bellevue? Should only sociopaths be summoned to jury duty? Shall every voir dire feature a cast of anarchists and nihilists?
I would think that this recent law grad’s burgeoning reputation as a member of the legal profession would have played some role in informing a more credible excuse than that SHE WAS AGAINST CRIME.
But maybe it’s just me . . .
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
