We are already dangerously close to having secret juries. Many places the papers showing the identities of the jury are provided to the lawyers only for jury selection & then they must be surrendered back to the jury commissioner. If the defense lawyer doesn’t hand write . . .
. down all the info for the whole panel (sometimes 100s of people) then after the jury is sworn in, even the defendant’s lawyers may not know who they are. How can the defense figure out juror misconduct in that situation? How could the public figure out any such misconduct. . .
. or the press either? Especially if the press is precluded by the court from even watching the jurors outside of the courthouse or from watching them potentially online - because no one knows who they are? We are losing a significant check on the power of the govt if we . . .
. accept that the identities of jurors in criminal cases can be shielded from the defense & the press during trial & from the public after trial. Setting up such a system could rapidly lead to a system of “secret” juries known only to the govt & from there is a short step . . .
. to the govt controlling who is on juries & who isn’t & literally no one would have the ability to police that abuse, all in the name of “safety.” This cannot be. That is why the Founders put the requirement for criminal trials to be public in the Constitution in the 1st place.
It imposes a burden of disclosure & intrusion on jurors, yes, but in the name of ensuring that all of us are free from being put on trial in the Star Chamber. We can develop measures for juror safety in response to threats, but eliminating the press’ role in securing public . . .
. trials is not the way to accomplish that. The govt is always happy to take whatever power we cede to it; it’s much much harder to claw back rights from it once you’ve surrendered them.
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