PRESIDENTS AND JURY DUTY.
1 IT’S OBAMA’S TURN
Since leaving the White House in January, former president Barack Obama has turned heads, images of him slipping into a Broadway play with his elder daughter, Malia, and kitesurfing with billionaire Richard Branson in the British Virgin Islands were shared on social media sites. His next stop: jury duty in Cook County, Ill. Obama, a constitutional scholar who frequently invokes messages of civic engagement, plans to serve next month, the county’s chief judge told the Chicago Tribune. Obama owns homes in Washington, D.C., as well as Chicago.
2 WHO ELSE HAS BEEN ASKED?
Obama would not be the first former president to report for jury duty after leaving the Oval Office. In August 2015, more than six years after the end of his presidency, George W. Bush received his jury duty summon and reported to the George Allen Dallas County Civil Court building. Bush sat through the jury selection panel and, though not picked to serve as a juror, spent about three hours at the court and posed for photos with his fellow jury candidates. In March 2003, Bill Clinton became Prospective Juror No. 142 in federal court in Manhattan. The New York Times reported that Clinton, whose name was avoided in the court hearing, was eventually dismissed in the jury selection in a case involving a gang shooting in the Bronx. While serving as vice-president, Joe Biden was called for jury duty in Delaware in January 2011. He too was not chosen as a juror.
3 ISN’T IT A BIT RISKY?
Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans told the Tribune that necessary precautions would be taken to accommodate security and scheduling needs. He did not specify the date or courthouse location Obama will report to in November. “He made it crystal clear to me through his representative that he would carry out his public duty as a citizen and resident of this community,” Evans told the Tribune. A spokesman declined to comment on the former president’s private schedule.
4 HAVE OTHER BIG NAMES BEEN ASKED?
The Tribune reported that other high-profile figures, like Oprah Winfrey, have also reported for jury duty in Cook County. Jurors can be summoned for civil or criminal pools and can be called to any of the county’s courthouses. But even members of the judicial branch don’t always make the cut. In April 2015, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. reported for jury duty in Montgomery County, Md.