Illegal Aliens to Serve on California Juries?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...rve-on-juries/

I personally don't know enough about the law here, but it seems like someone's making a problem where there wasn't one.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty.
Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill, AB1401, would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into the community.
It does not change other criteria for being eligible to serve on a jury, such as being at least 18, living in the county that is making the summons, and being proficient in English.
The bill passed 45-25 largely on a party-line vote in the Democratic-controlled Assembly and will move on to the Senate. One Democrat — Assemblyman Adam Gray, of Merced — voted no, while some other Democrats did not vote.
Democratic lawmakers who voted for the bill said there is no correlation between being a citizen and a juror, and they noted that there is no citizenship requirement to be an attorney or a judge. Republican lawmakers who opposed Wieckowski's bill called it misguided and premature.
Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, said there is no shortage of jurors.
"Jury selection is not the problem. The problem is trial court funding," Harkey said before the vote. "I hope we can focus on that. Let's not break something; it's not broken now. Let's not whittle away at what is reserved for U.S. citizens. There's a reason for it."

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Well ... jury of your peers, right? :cool:

Your headline is incorrect.

"The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty."

I fully acknowledge that non citizenship is still an issue.

david

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Originally Posted by VolGrad

Well ... jury of your peers, right? :cool:

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Oddly/sadly, that was my thought. The way the 'real citizens' vote in California, ya might think they were all from another country :rolleyes:

Why on earth would ANYONE wish to allow foreign citizens to affect the outcome of a trial on US Soil? It is, after all, the Constitution of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA which protects your right to a fair trial...so I don't think "We the people of the United States of America" is referring to those who are not citizens.

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Originally Posted by vcdgrips

Your headline is incorrect.

"The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty."

I fully acknowledge that non citizenship is still an issue.

david

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You are correct, but I copied and pasted the title out of laziness. If you click the link to the article, you'll see.

What's curious is if you are a non citizen, but are here legally, why don't they a) just refer to them as immigrants in the article and b) seriously, WTH do we need immigrants serving when their doesn't seem to be a shortage and therfore a need to outsource?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Why not?

They get food stamps. The Mexicans are encouraged to apply for them by our government.

The lengths my "peers" go through to get out of jury duty once they get summoned, I don't mind this at all.

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Originally Posted by BaiHu

What's curious is if you are a non citizen, but are here legally, why don't they a) just refer to them as immigrants in the article and b) seriously, WTH do we need immigrants serving when their doesn't seem to be a shortage and therfore a need to outsource?

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a) It's Fox News. b) there is a shortage. Once that summons rolls around everybody is related to a LEO or CO or for any other such reason they can make up, wouldn't be fit to serve on a jury.