After leaving the White House in January, Barack Obama has been making his slow transition into public life. He has voiced his opinion about the Trump administration’s attempts at repealing and replacing Obamacare and started campaigning for Democrat candidates across the country. Now he may have to slow down and go to jury duty.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Cook County summoned the former president for jury duty in Cook County, which includes Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Chief Judge Tim Evans, the county’s highest judicial figure said he fully expects Obama to serve jury duty. Evans says that the county will even accommodate Obama and the level of security a former president requires.
CHARLOTTE, NC, USA – JULY 5, 2016: President Barack Obama gestures on stage as he listens to a speech by Hillary Clinton at the Charlotte Convention Center. (Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com)
“Although it’s not a place where the public can earn a lot of money, it is highly appreciated,” Judge Evans said. “It’s crucial that our society get the benefit of that kind of commitment.”
That said, one of the last celebrities picked for jury duty was dismissed. Last August, Taylor Swift was scheduled for jury duty as a potential juror for a case in Nashville that involved charges of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, and domestic assault. Swift was dismissed by a Nashville judge who decided she was unable to be an impartial juror due to her own then-pending civil assault case.
“She asked to be left off out of concern for an upcoming trial in Denver where she was — she used the term ‘groped’ — by a fan at a meet-and-greet,” Davidson County District Attorney General’s Office spokesman Ken Whitehouse said. Whitehouse added she was willing to serve “on any other type of case.” Either way, the judge dismissed her from the potential juror pool for that case.