The Donald Trump Stole the Election from Hillary in New York Trial enters Day 2 Tuesday, and the effort to find anyone in Manhattan who doesn’t hate him is becoming a problem.
Roughly 200 people reported in person on Monday to the courthouse, out of a universe of about 500 potential jurors available to serve. Around 100 of them were in the first tranche of voir dire, and about half of those — 50 potential jurors — self-selected out of the jury pool. Another nine were given the boot when the judge asked if they had other reasons why they couldn’t serve.
What is it called when half the tranche of jurors being questioned say they can’t stand the defendant, can’t be unbiased, and want to skedaddle? That’s called a problem. Not to show off, but I’ve just done my calculation on the back of a paper towel, and before it ripped, I reckoned that if 50% of the day’s jury pool excuses itself every day, then in short order we’ll get a pile of poo.
Still, a stunned John Yoo, a law professor at Cal Berkeley, thought this spelled trouble for justice. He couldn’t be more right.
“I think it’s pretty extraordinary that in the very first jury pool before you even interview anybody, half of the jury pool already says they’re so biased against President Trump that they can’t serve on the jury,” he told Fox News. “This is where the judge gets to ask questions to ferret out any bias and before we even get to do that, half the jury pool says they’re fully biased,” he warned.
Yoo said, “This will feed into the claim that the public integrity of the courts and the prosecutors is to be questioned as being biased and unfair against him.”
Judge Merchan has issued a gag order to prevent Trump from talking about his daughter. She is employed by a political outfit that does work for Biden and other Democrats, which is just one way in which Merchan has shown his bias in the case. He’s also threatened to jail the former president for failing to show up, denying Trump’s request to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation. Trump’s lawyers asked if the president could attend the U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments about his immunity case. The judge replied that, while the Supreme Court is a big deal, “Having a trial in New York County Supreme Court is also a big deal.”
Related: Jury Questions in Trump’s NYC Trial Are Designed to Exclude Religious Supporters
While some in the media made a joke of his apparent nod off in court, Trump actually wants a big part in the first phase of the trial: jury selection. He wants to go to every sidebar if the judge has one-on-one discussions with prospective jurors.
Trump attorney Will Scharf said on CNN on Monday, “I think if the jury decides the case on the facts and the law, there’s no way President Trump can be convicted.”
If they can find a fair jury, after the 42-question jury questionnaire (which excludes Orthodox Jews), a total of 18 jurors will be seated, 12 jurors and six alternates.
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