I was born in late September. I’m a Libra. My zodiac sign is “The Scales.” I really don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. The Scales is the only inanimate symbol of the zodiac. I really don’t know what that supposed to mean either. Or what that says about me.
And it has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post.
The justice system in America is having a moment. (How’s THAT for a wild transition!) High profile court cases, most centering on the 34-count convicted felon and Republican candidate for president, including all his co-conspirators, have become the latest in high-drama, loud, and sexy reality TV. It’s the latest shiny object in a society whose collective attention-spans rival the lifespans of mayflies. Because of how dramatically the level of discourse and awareness has risen the past few years, both positively and negatively, we’ve had as well a collective opportunity to remind ourselves how important the judicial process is to the idea that is America.
But we’re failing that opportunity. And in ways we shouldn’t be.
My week this past week:
I was summoned this week to jury duty.
Quick, if this happened to you, how would you respond? Be honest, considering all that you have on your plate right now, how would you feel if you were called for jury duty. What emotions would surface for you?
I, for one, was excited! I really was! (Despite there being no Donald or Hunter or Rudy in sight in Washington the state!). Another novel experience, this, to add to the Alchemy that is my life—while at the same time challenging me to confront parts of myself I take for granted.
Here in Washington State, to be eligible for jury duty means: you must be at least 18 years of age, a citizen of the United States, a resident of the county in which you are to serve as a juror, and you must be able to communicate in English. If you have ever been convicted of a felony, you must have had your civil rights restored.
Over my life as an “eligible citizen” for jury duty, I’ve been called to serve four times. On two of those occasions, because of what was happening at both my schools that required I be present, I requested and was granted excusals; in one, I was able to serve and was actually placed on a jury in a court case that lasted 7 days (as luck would have it, all five days of my spring break plus a following Monday and Tuesday of the next week—I needed to have a sub teacher those two days. I can’t recall being as enthusiastic about it back then.). And the fourth occasion happening this past week.
With all that has been happening in our country by way of these high-profile court cases, I was looking forward to participating in order to fulfill my civic duty. With each of those high profile cases, and higher profile defendants, I’ve asked myself if I could be on one of “those” juries to serve as an impartial arbiter of the law as is required by the law. THIS is the question we all must ask ourselves: can we set aside our own opinions and biases in order to be a fair decider of facts? Honesty is expected and required—if I do not feel I can be impartial, I have a duty and obligation to say so very clearly at the appropriate point in the process. Partial or biased jurors in the prospective juror pool MUST be excused from service. However, those humans, those with no biases or partialities, don’t exist. So, then what? Who’s to populate a jury?
As part of our training as prospective jurors, we were made aware of both conscious and unconscious bias. As humans, we have both—one we know about and use to better our lot in life, the other we don’t necessarily know we have but it, too, serves an evolutionary purpose.
Liking chocolate ice cream and only buying American-made cars because you think they are of the highest quality are examples of conscious bias. I know that I have them and I use them to my advantage or benefit in some way.
Judging that Hell’s Angel biker over there as an unlawful rebel, or the very senior citizen walking with a walker as a bad or dangerous driver, both lean toward biases of the unconscious nature when they elicit feelings we might not be able to articulate, but that still influence our own behavior (“I’m gonna walk the other way when that biker approaches me,” or “I’m giving that grandpa A LOT OF ROOM as I pass him.” Even thinking he’s a grandpa is a form of unconscious bias.)
In a court of law, biases of any kind do not serve a fair and equitable judicial process. Which is why we are given instructions to surface them intentionally and discuss them when deliberating with our fellow jurors. We should be having this conversation nationally. And in good faith.
I have to believe that I could serve on any jury called. I was trained in the sciences and have a biology degree. I also have a degree and certification in education and so for 15 years I was privileged to teach the scientific process to over a thousand students. I know what it takes to promote the scientific understanding of the world using facts, objective/impartial evidence, and data, with all personal biases removed. And I know what happens when a scientist does not follow the tenets and high principles of the scientific process. They don’t get to stay a scientist for long.
I am also human with strong beliefs about what is right and what is wrong. So a tension exists in many cases as to just how objective and non-emotional I can be when presented with a person or situation that requires me to be impartial (as a principal, I had plenty of practice with this!). But every human is confronted with this same tension whether they realize it or not. It’s a part of being human.
There’s a reason why Lady Justice is blindfolded.
Give us Dirty Laundry
In 1982, (OMG! Forty-two years ago!), Don Henley struck out alone, away from the rock band The Eagles, to record his first solo album. On that album, Henley recorded his biggest solo hit that reached number one on Billboard’s charts spending three weeks there. That song was prophetic and realistic in its raw portrayal of American society and how broadcast news factored into the creation of culture. It was true in 1982, it’s more true today. It’s WAY more true today—if you go back to listen to the song, you’ll see how prophetic it is. You have to remember in 1982, there were pretty much only four major broadcast news agencies (ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. CNN was just two years old at that time.)
You don't really need to find out what's goin' on
You don't really wanna know just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry
Dirty little secrets
Dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers
In everybody's pie
We love to cut you down to size
We love dirty laundry
We can do the innuendo
We can dance and sing
When it's said and done
We haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry
(Dirty Laundry by Don Henley)
Dirty Laundry. Even still, it’s what draws our attention. Like the car wreck you can’t keep your eyes from, the outrageous is what pulls more eyeballs. And in news media parlance, eyeballs equates to advertisers which equates to dollars. Sex, murders, wars, and car wrecks sell. Payoffs to porn stars sell. Donald J. Trump sells. No one (no news media outlet, especially on the national level), can quit the dirty laundry.
Can you?
Can you really?
And therein lies the tension. Therein lies the dilemma.
The idea that is America—with a robust, fair, and blind judicial system intended to work for ALL Americans, not just those with influence who can delay and pay to have justice denied—requires that all our dirty laundry can be run through its machinations to come out clean and smelling forest pine-scent fresh. It only works as intended if the citizens who involve themselves do so in a manner respectful to the job and the law that is required of them—to be an impartial and unbiased decider of facts based upon the laws that have been applied and evidence set before them. I was reminded this week, yet again, of how solemn this “duty as a citizen” is.
Civic duties are actions that citizens must take to avoid legal repercussions. Obeying the law, serving on juries, paying taxes, attending school, and upholding the law as well as defending the United States are all examples.
(Vaia.com search, 2024)
In other words, we, as American citizens, are expected, as part of our citizenship, to follow, obey, and participate in the laws established for us that promote “a more perfect Union.” It IS our duty to do so. When we don’t, we risk facing the consequences of “the law.” An important aspect of this duty is an inherent trust in our fellow citizens that they, too, will “follow the law” (e.g. drive on the correct side of the road, or not shoot me or kneel on my neck because I’m teaching in a classroom, carrying a protest sign, or wearing the wrong color skin, etc.), AND will serve the law impartially and fairly when called upon to do so, as is the case when we’re called to jury duty.
The twelve citizens in New York who recently decided a high-profile case before them found the defendant guilty on all 34 counts of the indictment. Maybe with slight differences in how to conduct themselves and apply their thinking, they received virtually the same instructions I did in my jury orientation this week.
“You must base your decision solely on the evidence and not on sympathy or prejudice. It is critical that you begin your service unbiased toward any party, lawyer, or witness and that you keep an open mind until you have heard all the evidence and begin jury deliberations.”
~ A Juror’s Guide to Washington’s Courts, 2015
In our country right now, we are witnessing, daily, how one man with a powerful pulpit, is dirtying the entire enterprise. One man is poisoning and dirtying the laundry both before it goes into the machine of justice, AND as it comes back out. One man is jeopardizing the entire system sowing seeds of mistrust. One man is acting at odds with the civic responsibilities we all have as citizens of this imperfect Union. How that one man is held to account matters more then we realize from all the loud noise that he riles up and that our media corporations are all too happy to participate in.
They need dirty laundry.
That one man speaks to the darkest demons of our nature—by stoking the embers of hatred, mistrust, bias, separatism, hypocrisy, and racism; by stoking our addiction to dirty laundry; all in service not to the greater good, never to the greater good, but to the benefit of only one man—the man himself.
That’s not how it works.
Lady Justice—our allegorical representation of the entire United States’ judicial system:
Blindfold: representing the ideal that justice best served is blind in regards to wealth, status, race, social position, etc. “No person is above the law.” Outcomes are determined by the facts of the case alone.
Scales: the law is applied in as fair and balanced a way according to factual evidence.
Sword: represents how the process is meant to cut through the noise of criminality and “dirty laundry” in order to get to the actual, true facts; the sword also represents an outcome—punishable consequences will be applied to hold offenders to account. It’s gotta hurt. Aversive reinforcement at its intended finest.
Snake: an understanding that evil exists in the world and bad things will be perpetrated by imperfect humans. Lady Justice stands on the snake implying she’s keeping it at bey with the full weight of her body.
Tome of the Constitution and Law: Lady Justice’s right foot is resting upon established law, including the law of the land that is our United States Constitution, to support her in the appropriate application of her laws.
Without each component of this allegory, the system collapses.
Its Alchemy too!
Like all experiences, this became a part of me this week—this opportunity to participate in a civic duty required of all of us. I was ready, willing, and able to do so. Jury Duty, sadly, is seen as an imposition. Even the clerks, administrators, and the judge who thanked us for our service, all acted as if they were sorry our lives were disrupted as we sat with each of the other citizens who were also called to appear. When my name was finally called, with 34 others, we were told we had “won the jury lotto” because the case we were assigned to was not going to proceed as expected this week so we were sent home, thus ending our service duty.
I didn’t like that perspective, that our lives were disrupted and that we won the jury lotto by not having to serve on a jury. THIS is the lost opportunity among all those in the administration of the jury process—the opportunity to instill a sense of pride that we have a rare opportunity as citizens to fulfill one of the most important aspects of our Constitution. Far from that being an imposition, I consider it to be an honor and privilege. It’s a solemn and sacred duty to be taken very seriously.
To be called to serve in this manner should be celebrated and exalted and NEVER denigrated or downplayed. The clerk who released us should have apologized on behalf of the county’s system and administration because we were not needed at this time; we were not going to be given the opportunity to participate in a solemn and constitutionally sacred process of justice. As I was in line to return my juror badge, I overheard another citizen, who had been previously selected to sit on an actual case, say to a neighbor how she wished she could exchange positions with those of us in line who were leaving. Yeah, I wished I could have exchanged places with her too. I would have rather she said: “I’m so lucky to be able to stay here—I feel a bit sorry for those who aren’t so lucky that they get to leave now.”
Seriously, I’d say that!
I truly was a little sad that I was not selected to sit on a jury panel this time around. I look forward to hopefully “being randomly selected” to do the same at some point in the future. I think I’d be a good juror; even though I have strong progressive opinions, beliefs, practices, and philosophies that I staunchly hold, ALL those are trumped (oh GAWD—pun intended or not???) by the duties we all need to have in order to keep our Union what it is—the perfect set of ideals, imperfectly met, whose aim is to keep bending its arc of moral and ethical prudence towards justice.
Each of us plays a part in that. Well, most of us do. Some try to force the arc of our moral universe towards narcissistic ends. Towards injustice. Some of those people are finally finding out the justice system actually works, just as Lady Justice has always intended.
No matter the amount of laundry they dirty.
⚖️
Always and Ubuntu,
~ kert
And with Ahimsa!
🙏🏼
As an Arizona Court employee for over 35 years, and as a former Jury Services Specialist, I applaud you for this essay and your attitude towards serving. I wish that could be everyone's experience and attitude. However, jury service does not equally impact everyone. It can be a time imposition, financial constraint, job complication, day-care complication, elder-care complication, physically hard on the elderly or the unhealthy, you name it. And although I've heard some doozies, most of the excuses people have for not wanting to be a juror are valid and understandable. And most of the time, jurors are not paid adequately enough to reflect the true value of their time and service. I believe the judge and administrator's comments were meant to empathize with the reality of the hardships prospective jurors face. I don't believe they meant to disrespect the institution of jury service itself. My judges always gave a speech sincerely thanking jurors for their service even when they were not going to hear a case. Just showing up is an important civic duty and helpful. Often, the physical presence of prospective jurors is enough for attorneys and defendants to see that the system at least has the potential to work as designed. That said, it would be a wonderful world if everyone understood how important jury duty is, and if the justice system was always as fair and impartial as it could be.
Actually I DO see the connection between the Libra scales and your post -- the scale of justice!
Thank you for this take on jury duty. I hadn't thought of it quite this way but you flesh it out so beautifully. It is indeed an honor to serve and to uphold the duties of a civilized society -- which feels like it's slipping away in so many other ways. I also love that there is an emphasis on learning what it means to hold conscious and unconscious biases. Which of course we all do because we're human, it's not 'bad.' It's so much like the waking up process that goes with meditation, yes? Getting familiar with the workings of our mind so we can be more skillful in how we make choices and move through the world.