From Pine View Farm

Joe Sets the Example 0

In Delaware, he’s just “Joe.”

The vice president of the United States, along with 100 other Delawareans, reported for jury duty this morning at the New Castle County Courthouse, but by midday he had been dismissed without being called to serve on any jury.

Joe Biden, a former Delaware senator, arrived just before 9:30 a.m. and sat in the jury assembly room amid all the other prospective jurors, answering when his name was called during the roll.

Meanwhile, back in Virginia:

Because they perform such a vital public service, Virginia law exempts police officers from jury duty.

But what about firefighters?

They’d be exempt too under a bill proposed by Del. James E. Edmunds II, R-South Boston, and endorsed last week by a House subcommittee.

HB1527 also would apply to emergency medical technicians, rescue squad members and arson investigators.

Edmunds said the bill is “a small token of appreciation for those who serve.”

Jury duty can be a chore, but it is also fundamental to our legal system and a duty of citizenship. No one ever said that duties should be fun.

Our system of justice is admittedly imperfect, but it’s the only one we have. Exempting persons from jury duty as a “token of appreciation” devalues it and says something about Mr. Edmunds’s opinion of the jury system.

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