In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Constitution of United States of America 1789 (rev. 1992) (Amendment VII)
It arrived on Monday, January 9, 2017, in an official envelope. I received a jury summons for later this year. I had never been called to serve on a jury.
In his farewell address to the nation, on January 10, 2017, President Obama called the title of “citizen” the most important title in the country. And being a citizen includes jury duty. So I am looking forward to it.
Much has been written about the power of juries, the importance of juries, and the fundamental role of juries, as empaneled under the 7th Amendment.
President Kennedy stated, “The achievement of justice is an endless process” — and the jury system is the bulwark of that process. As Dean Wigmore recognized:
“Trial by jury must be preserved. It is the best system ever invented for free people in the world’s history. It supplies that flexibility of legal rules which is essential to justice and popular contentment.”
Dean John Henry Wigmore
I will let you know how it goes.