Friday, July 27, 2018

Lawyers, Judges, and Jury Duty - Q & A . . .

I recently reached out to certain lawyers with questions about jury duty and jury duty law. I focused on lawyers that I personally employ here in California, because as my employees, I figured they would want to answer those questions. After all, I directly pay them at least minimum wage for jobs they voluntarily accepted.

I emailed


1.    Los Angeles County Judge Daniel Buckley
I employ Judge Buckley in his job as Presiding Judge of Los Angeles County. Becoming a Different Kind of Professional explained that Judge Buckley " . . . manages the largest unified court in the country and likely in the world." He has worked in courtrooms as a litigation attorney and a judge, and because of this professional experience, I figured he would have direct knowledge about jury duty.
2.    California Supreme Court Justice Tani Gore Cantile-Sakauye
I employ Justice Gore Cantile-Sakauye in a California Supreme Court Chief Justice job. She worked as a lawyer for more than twenty years in California courtrooms, so I guessed that as a lawyer, she would have direct knowledge about jury duty.
3.    U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel
Federal Judge Jeremy Fogel began working as a private-practice attorney in 1974. I employed him as a California county-level judge for seventeen years, starting in 1981, and I first employed him as a federal judge in 1998. He clearly knows all about jury duty.
4.    UC Berkeley Lawyer School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky
Attorney Chemerinsky has handled law cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, but apparently works primarily in the law school industry, with additional work as an author. Because I employ him to lead an accredited University of California law school at UC Berkeley, I thought that he must have some knowledge about jury duty.
5.    Arizona attorney Stephanie McCoy Loquvam
I do not have an employer / employee relationship with Atty. McCoy Loquvam. Also, Atty. McCoy Loquvam practices law in Arizona, not in California. However, I learned that she runs the Commission on the American Jury of the American Bar Association. Based on this ABA leadership role, I figured she would have a lot of background knowledge to answer questions about jury duty, and I believed that she would want to answer questions about jury duty.
these questions about jury duty and jury duty law




and I waited. Note that I added the page footers later, when I wrote this article. Click here to open the questions in a new brower tab for download as a PDF. At first, I never got a reply from Judge Fogel, so I made some follow-ups. Soon enough


Dear Mr. Solomon,

Thank you for your voicemail following up on the email below from last Thursday.

Judge Fogel is not currently handling cases in our court and he will be leaving the bench in a few months. Furthermore, although he was a state court judge in the past, he has been a federal judge for 20 years. It is very unlikely that Judge Fogel will have opinions on the California jury-related topics that are the focus of your questions.

Best regards,

Staffer's Name
Staffer's Title
United States District Court
Northern District of California

a Judge Fogel staffer wrote back. It's not lost on me that I personally pay that staffer at least minimum wage. Judge Fogel starred in a video all about jury duty, and combined with his professional lawyer and judge employment experience, I knew he would have more than enough background knowledge and opinions to answer my questions. I definitely would have valued his answers. In the same way, I made some follow-ups with Judge Buckley. A staffer for Judge Buckley also wrote

Good Afternoon Mr. Solomon,

I am responding to your email on behalf of Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge Daniel Buckley

From Judge Buckley:

“Mr. Solomon, I am in receipt of your questions about various aspects of the jury system. As Presiding Judge, I am charged with applying laws regarding the administration of justice; it would be inappropriate for me to comment upon them.”

Please let me know if you have additional questions.

Staffer's Name
Staffer's Title

Los Angeles Superior Court

back. Hmmm. Judge Buckley has more than fourteen years experience as a judge, and based on that, I thought he must have some opinions about jury duty. I don't get his reluctance to answer those questions. Some years ago, I had an exchange with now-retired Los Angeles County Judge Connor about jury duty. I sent her this letter




and in my younger days, my diplomacy skills sure needed some improvement. Still, I got my thinking across.



Judge Connor obviously had no problem commenting on various aspects of the jury system. It looks like she pretty much agreed with what I wrote in that letter to her. Additionally, she alerted other judges, and the head of the Los Angeles County jury duty system at the time, about the issue. More than one of the people - mostly lawyers - directly or indirectly made aware of these issues in this mail traffic logically would and should have contacted me, made some general comment(s) about jury duty, and / or maybe even tried to reform jury duty itself in a public way. Focusing on Judge Buckley, maybe some new big post-July 2, 2002 policy forced him into silence. If so, I oppose that policy because Judge Buckley has an Amendment I, Freedom of Speech Clause, United States Constitution right - like everyone else - to speak up and speak out about all this. Judge Buckley himself should know to oppose a silencing policy because like myself, he must have read the United States Constitution, cover to cover.

I never heard from California Supreme Court Justice Cantile‑Sakauye or UC Berkeley law school Dean Chemerinsky. I decided to avoid follow-up emails to them, to compare their answers with those of Judge Fogel and Judge Buckley. After about two and a half months, I figured I waited long enough. Additionally, I never heard from Atty. McCoy Loquvam and I did not follow up with her.


In my opinion, all of these lawyers have more than enough qualifications, education, knowledge, experience, and rights to answer the questions. I directly employ most of them, and I don't like their nonanswers to my questions. After all, I have read that jury duty trial witnesses must answer every question a lawyer asks. If I land in a courtroom as a juror, I remember how all the lawyers can ask me a whole bunch of voir dire questions. If I don't answer the questions put to me in a jury duty trial, either as a witness or as a juror, bad things will happen to me. Amendment 1, Freedom of Speech Clause, United States Constitution alone guarantees that all of the lawyers listed above can freely answer the questions I asked them. This clause overrides all prior restraints that might silence them. I know this, and all of them should know this as well.

The taxpayer / government role I have with lawyers one through four above obviously requires them to answer my questions. The lawyer / non-lawyer role I have with all of these lawyers obligates them to answer my questions because as a non-lawyer, I want to know about the internal mechanics of the judiciary system and the lawyer industry. These obligations operate the same way as the government laws and the United States Constitution that obligate me to serve as a juror. I perfectly understand my roles, rights, and responsibilities. It looks like these lawyers might not correctly understand their own roles, rights, and responsibilities.