Why Jury Duty Matters: A Citizen’s Guide to Constitutional Action

4. Connecting to the Common Good

65 4 Connecting to the Common Good Thank You for Your Service Jury selection ends with a hushed series of whispers. Then the trial judge intones those fateful words: “For those of you sitting in the jury box, you will be the jurors in this case. For the rest of you, thank you for your service, you may return to the jury office and tell them you have been excused.” These words produce a wonderful array of human emotion. Looks of abject horror appear on the faces of those jurors caught unaware of the meaning of shuffling back and forth to the jury box. Looks of resignation come from those jurors who had already figured it out. Eyes roll. Lungs gasp in audible sighs. And then there are the smiles—broad smiles—on all the rest of the jury panel, relieved to have escaped jury service this time. Contrast those reactions with the emotions at the end of the case. The next time the judge thanks the jurors “for their service,” the trial is over. They are finished, having 66 / Connecting to the Common Good completed a process that has changed them, knowingly or unknowingly. To look at the expressions of jurors after the verdict, after the thanks, is to see the subtle changes that make jury service meaningful. There are almost always contented smiles, nods, and deep looks of satisfaction of a problem resolved but not completely settled. A thoughtfulness remains, as if the contested conversations swirling in the jury room have not yet quieted themselves. The experiential arc between those two moments follows a well-worn path of common connection. The change from being a potential juror to becoming an actual jury member presents a shift in role. Jurors do not act alone. As a juror, you are not simply an individual sitting in judgment . A jury is not twelve individual judges, but a single judge made up of twelve decision makers. Jurors don’t just participate, they participate together—like the motto on the Great Seal of the United States, “E pluribus unum” (out of many, one).1 That moment then—when the judge says you’ve been selected—is transformative. It bonds jurors together, connecting them in a common purpose. And what is this purpose for which you’ve been connected to your fellow citizens? You know there is a dispute —a contract, an injury, a crime. You know that it doesn’t involve you personally. Because of the requirement of impartiality, whatever you are called on to decide will not directly affect you. The purpose is to come together to resolve a problem affecting the larger community . Jurors are required to look outward, to the problems of others, to the common good. Public Virtue Jury duty is not misnamed. The requirement to alter your normal routine, to come to an unfamiliar place, to show up day after day, to do so without commensurate pay,2 and to face unexplained delays is a “duty.” There is real sacrifice involved in answering this call and providing Connecting to the Common Good / 67 this service. I once had the pleasure of talking to a distinguished judge the afternoon she was called to jury duty. I asked her if she had been picked. Her response was “mercifully no.” It was not that she did not understand the value of jury duty. She did. She had, in fact, served on three juries in her lifetime. As a judge she knew the importance of jurors to the legal system. Her response simply reflected that she had too much court work to do the next day. There were just too many cases, and too many people counting on her. It was too difficult to take on another duty. But for those who founded this country, the difficulty was precisely the point. To sacrifice one’s own interests for the common good defined the (small r) republican spirit.3 The theory behind classical republicanism envisioned a government centered on active citizenship whereby individuals gave up private interests for the public good.4 The Founders’ republicanism focused on creating a government that encouraged the interplay of participation, deliberation, equality, and universalism to create a system directed toward the common good.5 For revolutionaries creating a new nation, the ideal of a government that could foster a public good was a great selling point: “No phrase except ‘liberty’ was invoked more often by...