From people being threatened with contempt of court to the best case scenario of being excused without fuss for disability, people are navigating jury duty under a looming public health threat.
This is a collection of stories from Americans being called for jury duty in the U.S. during the pandemic. The stories are from people who told me directly, and from stories that were posted online in public. It’s all word of mouth. This is not legal advice & I’m not a lawyer. My only experience with jury duty was being called 4 times pre-pandemic and after hearing some of these stories, I sure hope it stays that way.
If you are called for jury duty and have any health concerns for yourself or family members, the best course of action would be to consult an attorney. There are also legal aid offices that can sometimes answer questions for you if you can’t afford a lawyer. Another possible resource is your local state government representative.
Find your reps here —> whoaremyrepresentatives.org
ARIZONA
Status: Excused as caregiver to a disabled family member.
This person reported that when called for jury duty, they submitted a form to be excused as a caregiver to a disabled family member with whom they reside. The motivation was to avoid exposure for themselves & by extension the disabled family member, and also presumably because they are needed as a caregiver.
I looked and found a web page that detailed the excuses for jury duty in Arizona. And this caregiver being excused may have been considered excused because “(i) Would be required to abandon a person under the prospective juror’s care or supervision due to the impossibility of obtaining an appropriate substitute caregiver during the period of participation in the jury pool or on the jury.” But possibly this would apply: “(iii) Would suffer physical hardship that would result in illness or disease.”
ARIZONA
Status: Excused due to disability
The disabled person reports that their doctor filled out a form to return to the court, and it was accepted to be excused. This person was motivated to avoid exposure in the court, which was not reported as having any mitigation or mask requirements. They identified as being at higher risk for infection, and have a mobility disability.
The web page that detailed the excuses for jury duty in Arizona, does specify excuse requires “a description and duration of any mobility restrictions, the specific symptoms that make the prospective juror mentally or physically unfit for jury service and their duration” but again, the following might’ve applied as well: “(iii) Would suffer physical hardship that would result in illness or disease.”
It looks like Arizona also provides an age exemption at age 75 — “a prospective juror who is at least seventy-five years of age may submit a written statement to the court requesting that the person be excused from service.”
CALIFORNIA
Status: Senior excused after sending a letter of refusal
This senior citizen wrote a letter in response to his summons for jury duty. I read the letter myself and I loved it.
excerpt from prospective juror’s letter:
“You should be ashamed for even asking me to subject myself to such a risk. I would gladly report for jury duty if you required everyone in the building to be masked. But you don’t.”
In the letter he identified himself as being over 70 years old, at serious risk of exposure, and he stated in the letter he would not be reporting. He never received a response, but when he checked online a few days before he was supposed to report, he was listed as “ended” status so he didn’t have to report.
I found a web page with California rules for jury duty exemptions, and it included this: “(5) The prospective juror has a physical or mental disability or impairment, not affecting that person’s competence to act as a juror, that would expose the potential juror to undue risk of mental or physical harm. In any individual case, unless the person is aged 70 years or older, the prospective juror may be required to furnish verification or a method of verification of the disability or impairment, its probable duration, and the particular reasons for the person’s inability to serve as a juror.”
It seems like perhaps he qualified under “undue risk of physical harm” and because of being over 70, he didn’t need to provide verification.
So while I couldn’t find that California specifically exempts people over a certain age, it appears people over a certain age are allowed more lease to define their own disability or impairment when seeking to be excused because of undue harm.
COLORADO
Status: Excused because the trial was not held so never had to report
This person got lucky in that the trial they were called for specifically wound up not happening. There was no mention to them about any mitigations or mask rules in place at the time they would’ve had to report.
The rules stated on this web site for Colorado allow for ADA disability accommodation requests, and you can be temporarily excused with a “medical statement” if you are currently breastfeeding a child.
The list only mentions retirees can get a postponement if they’re living outside the county “more than 50% of the time” but does not mention any age exemptions for seniors.
CONNECTICUT
Status: Letter from oncologist was accepted to get excused
This person related that their family member’s oncologist wrote a letter and it was accepted to excuse her from jury duty.
I found a web page for a district court in Connecticut with a list of jury duty exemptions including: “The court will make every effort to accommodate jurors with disabilities or special needs. Please notify the court in writing by e-mail or U.S. Mail. Be sure to include your telephone number because, the jury clerk may need to discuss accommodations with you. You may request to be excused if you are disabled and jury service would be an undue hardship or extreme inconvenience.”
Also on that list it says Connecticut excuses persons over 75.
GEORGIA
Status: Exemption because of being a homeschooling parent
This person said they were called at a time when masks were required in the courtroom. They were granted an exemption for a year because of being a homeschooling parent.
I found this pdf page with Georgia jury duty exemptions which includes: “any person who is a primary teacher in a home study program as defined in subsection (c) of Code Section 20-2-690 who, during the period of time the person is teaching, requests to be excused or deferred from jury duty and executes an affidavit on a form provided by the court stating that such person is the primary teacher in a home study program and stating that such person has no reasonably available alternative for the child or children in the home study program shall be excused or deferred from jury duty.”
It appears that Georgia also grants exemption to anyone over 70, and there are some other provisions.
NORTH DAKOTA
Status: Excused because therapist asserted patient would not be able to focus while exposed to others unmasked
This person’s therapist made the argument that this person would not be able to focus on a court case while being “amongst the unmasked masses” in the court. And the person was released.
The only file I found about North Dakota had simply this note on undue hardship for exemptions: “A person who is not disqualified for jury service may be excused from jury service by the court upon a showing of undue hardship, extreme inconvenience, or public necessity, for a period the court deems necessary, at the conclusion of which the person shall reappear for jury service in accordance with the court’s direction.”
I couldn’t find any mention that North Dakota has any provision for seniors by age specifically.
PENNSYLVANIA
Status: Excused for health condition at age 74
This person posted on twitter that her family member was called for jury duty and was excused because of her health conditions + age.
I found the PA code for jury duty page and it includes “Persons demonstrating to the court undue hardship or extreme inconvenience” and also people breastfeeding.
Persons 75 years of age or older just need to request to be excused. (Pennsylvania State Rep. Pam Snyder seeks to lower jury duty exemption age to 70 and I found a news article that states “The new legislation is currently gathering co-sponsors and will soon be referred to a House committee.”)
VIRGINIA
Status: in contempt of court for not removing face mask
(no further information available)
This story was posted on reddit by Hot-Chicken-1374 but subsequently deleted by the subreddit moderator. However I had saved the story before it was deleted because I was collecting these stories, so I’m posting it here.
In contempt of court for not removing face mask
by Hot-Chicken-1374
I was summoned for jury duty in Virginia circuit court. The judge demanded that everyone remove their face masks during jury selection (maybe 5-10 people masked out of 20-30) and replace them with face shields because it was important for people to see our facial expressions.
I politely refused (something along the lines of “I’m sorry sir, I am not comfortable with removing my mask”), at which point he asked me if I was aware that the CDC has said that face masks are just as effective as face shields, or that face shield meet the CDC requirements, or something along those lines; I’m sorry, I don’t remember the exact details. The entire exchange lasted maybe 30 seconds to a minute. No specific CDC papers/speeches/etc were referenced by the judge.
I have 15 days to pay $500 or else I need to spend 10 days in jail. Is there anything I can do? Is this something a public defender can help me with? I know that everyone who is punished by a judge thinks they are in the right and the judge is out of line, but I firmly believe that I was respectful for the entire exchange and that a judge should not be able to coerce me to put the health of myself and my family in danger.
Later in the thread in response to somebody asking “Do you have any medical issues making you especially vulnerable to COVID?”
by Hot-Chicken-1374
Not personally, but my grandmother that I visit once a week or more is on immunosuppressants
Edit: worth noting that they aren’t social visits, I’m helping make sure her meds are in order, getting rid of old food, bills are paid, etc
In some states maybe this might qualify, but I could not find provision for this in Virginia. Somebody in the thread incorrectly claims that it’s not relevant on the basis that it would have to be the juror himself to get disability accommodation. They may have been thinking of workplace accommodations under ADA where the accommodation is for the employee. But the courts are subject to state laws around exemptions for jury duty, and it varies by state.
In Virigina this list includes caretaking of someone who “physical or mental impairment requiring continuous care by him during normal court hours” — and also exempts breastfeeding mothers, and certain parents of minors.
One of the other replies was interesting:
by Spiritual-Mechanic-4
Anything you want to do to avoid the charge will probably cost more than $500. This does seem to be an area that has drawn some complaints of judicial misconduct: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/5th-circuit-judge-accused-forcing-doj-attorney-remove-mask-2022-02-03/
If you want to raise a complaint: https://www.virginia.gov/agencies/judicial-inquiry-and-review-commission/ . Lots of people routinely wore masks in public pre-covid, I suspect a cancer patient would not have gotten such a request. given how politicized COVID measures have become, it could maybe be argued that forcing you to remove yours was political activity.
It’s unclear why the original story was removed but not the thread nor all the comments. However it does appear the “mod” in this subreddit was hostile toward the person who was trying to protect themselves at jury duty, evidenced by the inflammatory courtsplaining reply the mod had made that was straight up authoritarian apologia, and then mod had also deleted several replies to his own reply.
Also, age does appear on the exemption list: Any person over 70 years of age can be excused.
WASHINGTON
Status: Excused with doctor’s note
This person with a chronic disability sent in a doctor’s note and was excused. The person reported to me they did not need to indicate the condition / disability, the court accepted the doctor’s judgement as verification.
The Washington state web page I found listed exemptions as: “Those eligible may be excused from jury service if they have illnesses that would interfere with their ability to do a good job, would suffer unusual hardship if required to serve, or are unable to serve for other legitimate reasons.”
I couldn’t find anything specifically about senior citizens by age.
WISCONSIN
Status: Excused for the court’s inability to accommodate PAPR
(at least temporarily)
PAPR stands for Powered Air-Purifying Respirators. (A nice description can be found on page 11 of the Oregon OSHA guide.)
This person was motivated to avoid exposure to infection for themselves and a family member. When called for jury duty they requested to be able to wear a PAPR while serving. Requesting to wear this for jury duty resulted in the person getting a temporary excuse, twice, from reporting, they were told, because of the court’s inability to accommodate someone going through security with a PAPR.
A cursory search for Wisconsin rules on jury duty exemptions only turned up for me the following criteria: “if the court determines that service as a juror would entail undue hardship, extreme inconvenience or serious obstruction or delay in the fair and impartial administration of justice.”
I could find no evidence of age specific exemption for seniors in Wisconsin.
Jury duty is subject to state codes under the law. People should always carefully read any letters you receive from the government. The rules should be available on state government web sites and county judicial web sites and contact phone numbers should be available for jurors. If you look up anything on the internet about any laws or government policies or even government office hours, make sure it’s a government web site and the most recent web page published.
Don’t assume anything. Don’t assume any of these stories here are entirely accurate. If you find a news article, make sure it’s from a reliable source and the most recent information published. A lot has changed over time during the past 3 years.
If you are called for jury duty and have any health concerns for yourself or family members, the best course of action would be to consult an attorney. There are also legal aid offices that can sometimes answer questions for you if you can’t afford a lawyer. Another possible resource is your local state government representative.
Find your reps here —> whoaremyrepresentatives.org
