Called for jury service yet again

23 May 2008

Santa Clara County Superior Court Jury Commissioner’s Office
191 N. First Street
San Jose, CA 95113-1090

To whom it may concern:

AFFIDAVIT

You all need to leave me alone.

It is bad enough that law is held in preference to justice, but the very fact of that preference inherently biases the court in a conservative direction, euphemistically referred to as “law and order.” Law is made by the rich to protect itself from the poor. Order is about social order, a hierarchical set of relations preserving the advantages of an elite class against all others. But judges consistently insist that juries apply law and discount justice to uphold order. This is fundamentally unjust and I cannot ethically participate.

In addition, I am a graduate student in an extremely precarious financial situation. In order to be available for this service, I would have to give up the classes I am taking and teaching this summer, depriving myself of my entire income for this quarter. The pittance you pay for jury service will not even cover the cost of gasoline to and from the court, let alone food and rent for an entire summer. When you ask me for a date to postpone my service to, you fail to reckon for the depletion of my funds; I am indigent between quarters, barely hanging on until my next injection of financial aid at the beginning of the next quarter.

Finally, your persistent and futile attempts to enlist me for jury service have become a substantial burden on my time. I ask that you permanently remove me from further consideration for jury service.

I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct (Code of Civil Procedure Section 2015.5).

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