President Bush has been selected as one of a 600 person pool for jury duty in Texas. When the judge was asked about the situation he replied:
State District Judge Ralph Strother said he expects to get a response about the summons but doesn’t expect Bush to report for duty.
“I don’t think I’ll be sending the sheriff out to bring the president in,” said Strother, a Republican who has a grandson serving in Iraq. “It seems to me that the president has plenty of things to occupy his attention. Jury duty is a very important civic function, but running the country, I think, especially in wartime, takes priority over jury service.”
Now, maybe it’s just me, but the President is just as much of a citizen as me or you or anyone else for that matter. I realize that there are more important things that the President should/could be doing, but immediately dismissing him from the pool before he even shows up is a little much.
I don’t think that the President will serve on a Jury, nor should he really. The way that the Judge puts it though is not really the way it should be said. He makes it out to be that the President isn’t held to the same civic duties that we all are. He is. There is a reason that the President is not pulled from the Jury duty pool in his home state. It’s because he is held to the same responsibilities as the rest of us.
His selection is, of course, a potential political nightmare. If the President does serve on the jury, he is neglecting his real duties to the country. If he doesn’t serve on the jury, he is using his position to shade himself from his civic duties.
Related Books:
George W. Bush: Portrait of a Leader
Juror\’s Rights (Legal Survival Guides)
Related:
Bush Called To Jury Duty
Read More Here.
About Shane Ede
This brings up an interesting point. Can the president legally serve on a jury without violating the constitution? His duties are strictly seperated from the judical branch for a reason and even allowing him to serve on a jury could be considered undue influence…