> From: http://www.cs..edu/~b > Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:00:04 -0700 > > So we spent all day on voir dire. I was appalled at the opinions > of some of the other potential jurors. Typical: If someone is paid > below minimum wage, they entered into that agreement voluntarily, or > they should work hard and go to college and then they'll be paid more. > And then there were the ones whose opinions were incoherent, or who > insisted on bringing up their own pet issues irrelevant to the case, > such as the woman who wants the defendants to go through sensitivity > training so the problem won't come up again, and no matter how many > times the lawyers and the judges said "all this court can do is award > money damages; could you agree to that?" she wouldn't say yes or no, > just "but they should have training." > > I had an interesting conversation with the lawyer for the employer > about my views about capitalism. She wanted to know if I could > "set aside" my political views while hearing the case. I said, > "I would try my best to be open-minded about the case, and if the > evidence clearly favors the company I'd vote that way, but I can't > stop being who I am! And I suppose that if the evidence isn't so > clear either way I'd probably lean toward the workers." Finally she > asked, "If you were me, would you be comfortable having you on the > jury?" To *that* question I could give an unequivocal answer: no. > So I was the second juror excused for cause, and I therefore can't > tell you how the rest of the selection process went. > > But the most appalling thing happened before the lawyers got started, > when the judge asked each of us a set of questions. One was about > my job(s) and those of any present or past spouse and any adult > child. And when I told him that Heath is a pizza delivery person, > the judge said "That's an honorable job; you don't have to say it > that way." And I still have no idea what I said or how I said it to > attract that comment! I don't *think* I was sneering or sounding > apologetic or anything. So mostly that's what I was thinking about > during the whole rest of the process.