Mental Floss

On Jury Duty: Day #1

By David K. Israel

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I'm sitting in the nation's largest courthouse right now. I was hoping to write a Word Wrap follow-up post and give you my 3 favorite newly-coined words, but jury duty called. And there's no wifi in the jurors' room, so I can't really read the blog and sift through all your what-I'm-sure-are wonderfully inventive comments.

But I can type into a blank WORD .doc and post during my lunch break on a few jury-duty related factoids I picked up from the remarkably out-of-date video they forced us to struggle through earlier this morning.

  • Factoid #1: As just mentioned, the Los Angeles Superior Court, where I'm serving, is the largest court in the US
  • Factoid #2: The building I'm sitting in now, the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, has 100 courtrooms in it; again, a national record.
  • Factoid #3: Some of you might recall my post on Catalina Island last year. California's smallest courthouse, with one, part-time courtroom, is located there.
  • Factoid #4: The California Constitution of 1850 mandated that Spanish and English were co-equals for legal and judicial purposes. Everything in the CA court was bilingual until 1879. (Now, only the ATMs are"¦. Joking!)
  • Factoid #5: 1.7 million of the 2.7 million new cases filed every year are traffic ticket-related.

Other than that, it's pretty dull here. And judging by the guy drooling on himself the next row over from me, you wouldn't want most of these people deciding your fate. Most of the time, I'm all for professional juries. How about you all? You still believe in this form of democracy? Or do you think pros, who are paid well and well informed would do a better job making the important decisions?