Women of the Jury: It's official, I've been excused

Thursday, July 1, 2010

It's official, I've been excused

I got the reply postcard today, excusing me from jury service. I asked to be excused under the question, Are you a US Citizen? I did not circle Yes or No, but wrote "see Remarks", and in the Remarks section I wrote: "Without a constitutional amendment, I do not have full and equal citizenship in the US."

Today I was excused, for this reason, since I gave no other. If anyone joins me, please photocopy the summons before you send it in, and then the reply when you get it. If you are not excused like I was, then you have the choice of going, but explaining that you cannot serve. If forced to serve, then you have the choice of abstaining from voting.

I also thought that if forced to vote, I would vote for the minority, whatever side that was.

Susan

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Susan Guggenheim received a summons for jury duty.

I got a jury summons card in the mail. I thought about that, and decided that if there was no ERA, I was not a full and equal citizen of the US and until I was, I would not perform jury duty.

I sent in the card with a remark like “I am not a full citizen of the US, we don’t have a ratified ERA” something along those lines (I have lost my photocopy of it when I moved a couple of years ago). Well, turns out they sent me a postcard accepting my reason for not serving, and left me alone for over 3 years (maybe 5 actually). This week I got another summons. Which is good, because I have been thinking about this a lot, and what would I do again, etc.

The idea is that I will send in the card, but with a new statement in the Remarks space, and if still picked, I will go, but tell the Court that I cannot participate until we have an ERA and I am a full and equal citizen. If forced to participate by a Judge, I will serve, but ultimately I will abstain from voting on ethical grounds (or I should say Hypocritical!). Abstention from voting is very rare, only a few conscientious objectors have done it in the past. If forced to vote, by a Judge, I would then vote against the majority, to hang the jury and cause havoc to a very expensive Federal trial. That’s my thinking, but it probably won’t get that far.

My idea is that this is a good political action for several reasons – 1) I don’t believe I should contribute to jury service, a citizen responsibility, when I’m not a full and equal citizen in this country, and 2) this is an action that can be adopted by a single individual woman, who can take it as far as she can take it. The WLM is not in operation any longer, we don’t have collective actions anymore. In other words, when faced with contempt or jail or a fine, she can compromise, because declaring one’s intention not to serve is action enough. So wherever anyone has to bail out on the action and knuckle down to authority is not a defeat - filling out the Jury Service card with a reason not to serve until we have an ERA is a victory each time it is done.

With NOW’s help, I wrote this - “Without a constitutional amendment, I do not have full and equal citizenship in the USA.”

We will see what happens, I made a scan of it this time and can prove, if released from service again, that the US Government accepted my reason for not participating in jury service, which is that I am not a full and equal citizen in the US.

I felt I had to do something to stop feeling utterly helpless in the reality of where the ERA and WEA stand today. I mailed the card today, after talking to my family about how far I hope I can take this (contempt? Fine? Jail? I’m not sure yet). But I will say this, for the first time since I joined this group, I feel like I am an active member, that I’m doing something to demonstrate my dissatisfaction with the fact we have no ERA in our constitution AND I’m participating in a political action, that will have tangible consequences to my relationship to the government.

OK, sisters, now imagine if a thousand women in each state did the same thing. Amazing, isn’t it – all anyone has to do to join me is fill out a summons card declining their invitation to serve.

Ratifying the Equal Rghts Amendment

American women believe, erroneously, the battle for equality under the Constitution was won. The battle sputtered three states short of the goal and remains to be won.
All the 'rights' presently enjoyed by women hang by a thread no one has pulled - yet. Laws passed at the state level do not have the force of Constitutional affirmation of our inherent rights, they are granted by majority vote at the state level and can be as easily rescinded.
Read this analysis of the law from the ERA site.
The Three State Strategy - "In the 1990's, a promising new strategy for achieving the ERA arose. In 1992, the "Madison" Amendment, concerning congressional pay raises, became the 27th Amendment to the Constitution after a ratification period of 203 years. This established a precedent such that there should be no constitutional objection to an ERA ratification period longer than the current few decades.

Also, Congress, when it first passed the ERA in 1972, chose to impose a 7-year ratification time limit, but not in the binding text of the amendment itself. In 1978, a later Congress extended that time limit three years, to 1982, thus establishing the precedent that Congress has the power to do so. A strong argument can therefore be made that any session of Congress could, by a simple majority in both houses, extend (or eliminate) the currently expired ratification time limit on the ERA, such that just three more state ratifications would add the ERA to the Constitution."

Women of the Jury

Wording of the Equal Rights Amendment

"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

Thursday, July 1, 2010

It's official, I've been excused

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