Source: Obama to skip jury duty in Chicago suburbs

[iandhr]

Source: Forbes

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- A White House official says President Barack Obama will be skipping jury duty after being summoned in Illinois.

The administration official confirmed to The Associated Press on Sunday that the president alerted the court weeks ago that he won't be able to make it. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly.


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.

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/01/24/general-us-obama-jury-duty_7298727.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Presidents should be exempt.

I mean, there's no way any lawyer would want such a celebrity on any case.

[Hosnon]

20. If it's a state matter, I'm almost certain his constitutional duties would excuse him.

The states can't be dragging federal officials all around for such things - it could get too cumbersome and be abused.

And in my county, you are asked whether you are an attorney (presumably so as not to waste everyone's time).

[SeattleGirl]

2. "skip" is rather misleading.

I'm sure he's asked to be excused from jury duty, just like I did once because the trial I was up for would be at least a month long, and I couldn't leave my job for that long, AND I was scheduled for surgery a week and a half into the trial.

"skip"

Goddamned M$M!

[Quantess]

3. Was this just an oversight by the courthouse? I hope.

That's the dumbest jury duty call I've ever heard. Not even the cat naamed Sal from Boston being called to jury duty was as ridiculous as this.

[harkadog]

7. No one is except in Illinois

[tanyev]

11. I got a jury summons from a previous residence after I had moved.

Just called the court, gave them my new address, problem solved. When the summonses are spit out randomly by computers, it can happen.

[deadmessengers]

21. I wish it was that easy everywhere.

All I can say is, be thankful you don't live in New York City. :)

I'm still getting jury summons at my parents' house almost annually, despite the fact that I moved out of state 15 years ago. Every time I get one, I have to go through this dance on the phone of "No, I don't live there any more. Yes, I can prove that. No, I live 900 miles away and cannot show up to court and do so in person." One time I actually had an arrest warrant, which I had to pay a lawyer to clear up for me.

[Arrowhead2k1]

4. How the hell could anyone expect a sitting president to serve jury duty? lol, this is ridiculous. nt

[AngryAmish]

13. Why does the computer know that he is in Washington?

[TheEuclideanOne]

5. I hope that he has a note from his employer.

btw, if he doesn't, he could just tell them..... "I would make a great juror. I could spot a guilty person a mile away" Works every time (a little George Carlin humor. :) )

[Suji to Seoul]

8. Okay. . .I excuse him.

Signed,

An American Voter

[TheEuclideanOne]

9. The snarky side of me wants to say

that only the corporations could provide the letter.

[moonbatmax]

6. You know, in his shoes...

...I'd be tempted to BE THERE at the appointed time, just to see the look on the judge's face.

Of course, if they're oblivious enough to summon the SITTING PRESIDENT, I'm not sure I'd lay odds on their recognizing him when he showed up...

[Stumbler]

10. Ok, does anyone know...

How many, or rather specifically, which previous sitting presidents have been called for jury duty in the past? This is an absurd failure of oversight, imo. And a great excuse for the Conservative & M$M to attack Obama for "failing to uphold his public responsibilities." What a joke...

[AngryAmish]

15. Why is this a failure of oversight?

There is the juror roll. Millions of people are on the roll in Cook County. No one is removed (except felons and incompetents). A jury summons goes out. It is automated. Do you really want someone deciding who gets summoned and who does not? Ever hear of how jury trials were selected in the Jim Crow south?

[Stumbler]

22. Ok, I think you missed my point.

First, you got me: I'll admit that I'm out of my field of experience when it comes to the procedures for selecting a jury in the state of Illinois. Regardless of how automated the system is, I would have expected someone to come to the conclusion that the sitting president might get called to serve, and that there would be some other procedure in place to allow the sitting president to be exempt, as he's already engaged in serving other civic duties.

I think you may have missed the other two points I made in my response. 1) How often has a sitting president been served with jury duty? Is it actually a rather common practice? If so, it's news to me, as I don't recall Clinton or either Bush being served while in office. 2) This echoes an earlier post, but the headline is written in a way to allow his critics to accuse him of shirking his responsibilities, even though he's already serving the government in another capacity.

In the future, I'll just ask questions w/o offering an opinion until I'm fully studied up on the subject at hand. :eyes: Thank you.

[nyy1998]

12. It's not like he's doing anything else like run a country or anything

[Odin2005]

14. I heard this on the little funny story thing on NPR Morning Edition, LOL.

Pretty funny.

[ShortnFiery]

17. My snarky side wonders if it was STAGED to make Obama seem like "the rest of us"

unwashed masses.

I'm forever jaded and don't believe in "cute" coincidences.

[Odin2005]

23. Oh geez.

:eyes:

[Quantess]

24. Recently a cat from East Boston was called to jury duty

A cat named Sal whose owners mentioned him in the Census. How cute of a coincidence is that?
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO133130/

[RZM]

16. What better way to get in touch with 'ordinary Americans' . . .

Than to dodge jury duty? :)

[ShortnFiery]

18. I had delay visiting my 81 year old mother for a month due to Jury duty.

If she would have gotten sick in that time, I would have copped a massive attitude. Most of us peasants can't get out of such service. But yeah, I understand that The President is always exempt ... that's understood. ;)

[Jennicut]

19. Too bad he is Prez. I once served jury duty at the age of 20 and it was one of the best

experiences I ever did. Very interesting to watch the defense and prosecutors present their cases. I was only an alternate so I never found out the outcome of the case. I was on break from college so I could actually serve. I got called again a few years ago but I had two babies to take care of.