Jury duty summons while waiting for oath ceremony!

[bruno. 4]

Hello to all,

first and foremost, I am not sure if this is the right forum for this topic, so if it not in the right place and you are a moderator, please move this topic to the correct place.

After researching the forums for a similar issue, I couldn't find anything so here is the situation:

- My situation: I am an LPR. I had my naturalization interview on 07/07/2014 and it was approved. I received my appointment letter for the Oath ceremony for 08/27/2014. So I am NOT a US citizen yet.

- What the jury summons says: "report on 09/09/2014"

I see 2 ways of looking at the situation:

1) If everything goes according to plan, I will be a US citizen on 09/09/2014 and therefore should report for jury duty.

2) As of the day I received the letter (08/15/2014), I am not a US citizen and therefore disqualified from performing jury duty.

The letter states that I have 10 days to respond if not qualified. Should I send the letter back saying I don't qualify since I won't be a US citizen within the 10 day window or should I just wait and report on 09/09/2014. The problem I see with waiting is if something happens (cannot attend oath ceremony for instance, or ...) and I don't become a US citizen on 08/27/2014, then it is too late to send the letter back.

Any advise welcome

[dioxide45 25]

I would respond and indicate that you are not qualified because you are an LPR. You only have 10 days to respond, and you won't be an LPR in that time frame.

[FaZz 2]

As the french say, pourquoi Chercher midi à quatorze heures !!

my understanding is you do not want to be part of that jury thing,right!! and as of now, you are not a us citizen yet ...So your answer to them is clear: NoT A us citizen.

Edited August 16, 2014 by FaZz

[bruno. 4]

No, it's the opposite, it would be a no brainer if I didn't want to go, I'd just send back the letter saying not eligible. In France we only have jurys for exceptionnal trials that make their way to the top courts. That difference makes me interested in the judicial process here and would like to attend at least once to see how it goes.

So let me rephrase my original question: Am I allowed to just wait or do I have to respond back saying not eligible?

They have aphone number on the letter that I will call and get their feeling about it but I wondered if people here already had to deal with a similar situation.

As the french say, pourquoi Chercher midi à quatorze heures !!
my understanding is you do not want to be part of that jury thing,right!! and as of now, you are not a us citizen yet ...So your answer to them is clear: NoT A us citizen.

Edited August 16, 2014 by bruno.

[Ontarkie 14,873]

You are not illegible, you must respond within the 10 days. Do not wait if you do not reply you can get into a lot of trouble.

[kcoyclay1 98]

Hello to all,

first and foremost, I am not sure if this is the right forum for this topic, so if it not in the right place and you are a moderator, please move this topic to the correct place.

After researching the forums for a similar issue, I couldn't find anything so here is the situation:

- My situation: I am an LPR. I had my naturalization interview on 07/07/2014 and it was approved. I received my appointment letter for the Oath ceremony for 08/27/2014. So I am NOT a US citizen yet.

- What the jury summons says: "report on 09/09/2014"

I see 2 ways of looking at the situation:

1) If everything goes according to plan, I will be a US citizen on 09/09/2014 and therefore should report for jury duty.

2) As of the day I received the letter (08/15/2014), I am not a US citizen and therefore disqualified from performing jury duty.

The letter states that I have 10 days to respond if not qualified. Should I send the letter back saying I don't qualify since I won't be a US citizen within the 10 day window or should I just wait and report on 09/09/2014. The problem I see with waiting is if something happens (cannot attend oath ceremony for instance, or ...) and I don't become a US citizen on 08/27/2014, then it is too late to send the letter back.

Any advise welcome

Bottom line is you are not eligible because you are not a US citizen and that would be the only way you would be qualified to serve. We are all advised that we are never to state that we are US Citizens if we are not and as you are not a citizen and this is a privilege for citizens only, you are not qualified to serve until after oath ceremony. Send a copy of your PR card that shows that you are not qualified. I'm sure they will be sending you a new letter soon as they seem to send PRs jury letters very often. It appears as if the citizens are hiding out lol.

[kcoyclay1 98]

You're in a very interesting situation. I would suggest you call them and explain your situation and ask them if you're at all eligible. If they say you're not eligible, I would still send that letter stating that they themselves told you over the phone that you're not qualified. This way you can't get in any trouble.

Hi Happy Chic,

You are correct about her not being qualified. Eligibility is based on citizen and as such he/she cannot get into trouble. They cannot tell a PR that he/she is eligible because of a pending oath ceremony; it is against the law. Without a naturalization certificate he/she is still a PR and as such cannot serve as this is only for citizens. I don't believe that there is a pending citizenship criteria either. It's a yes or no situation and at this time this is a no response.

[Dave&Roza 748]

I am trying to figure out how you got selected as they typically use the voter registration in your county to select potential juries. If you are really interested I would responsed that as of 08/25/2014 your are not eligible but as of 08/27/2014 you should be eligible as you will be come a USC and are interested in serving on the jury. Then see what they do. I would state very clearly that you are not yet a USC, but SHOULD be one by 08/27/2014.

Good luck,

Dave

[JohnR! 5,495]

Technically your line of thinking is not far off but you must look at the summons in the context of your current situation. You will not be a US citizen until you are sworn in, which means that at the moment you received the summons, as a LPR, you're not qualified to serve.

Write the court and decline the privilege on those grounds.

Hello to all,

first and foremost, I am not sure if this is the right forum for this topic, so if it not in the right place and you are a moderator, please move this topic to the correct place.

After researching the forums for a similar issue, I couldn't find anything so here is the situation:

- My situation: I am an LPR. I had my naturalization interview on 07/07/2014 and it was approved. I received my appointment letter for the Oath ceremony for 08/27/2014. So I am NOT a US citizen yet.

- What the jury summons says: "report on 09/09/2014"

I see 2 ways of looking at the situation:

1) If everything goes according to plan, I will be a US citizen on 09/09/2014 and therefore should report for jury duty.

2) As of the day I received the letter (08/15/2014), I am not a US citizen and therefore disqualified from performing jury duty.

The letter states that I have 10 days to respond if not qualified. Should I send the letter back saying I don't qualify since I won't be a US citizen within the 10 day window or should I just wait and report on 09/09/2014. The problem I see with waiting is if something happens (cannot attend oath ceremony for instance, or ...) and I don't become a US citizen on 08/27/2014, then it is too late to send the letter back.

Any advise welcome

[JimmyHou 613]

I am trying to figure out how you got selected as they typically use the voter registration in your county to select potential juries. If you are really interested I would responsed that as of 08/25/2014 your are not eligible but as of 08/27/2014 you should be eligible as you will be come a USC and are interested in serving on the jury. Then see what they do. I would state very clearly that you are not yet a USC, but SHOULD be one by 08/27/2014.

Good luck,

Dave

You're right that most states use the voter registration rosters for their jury lists, but some have expanded their jury lists to include anyone who applies for a drivers license. So in some states, it's very rare for a non-citizen to get a jury duty call (it only happens if there's a mistake or an improper claim of citizenship), but in other states it happens all the time and it's up to the green card or visa holder to inform them that he's not a citizen and can't serve.

[bruno. 4]

It says on the letter that they use voter registration OR DMV database to select potential jurors. Since I have a driver's license, my selection must have come from the DVM database.

I am trying to figure out how you got selected as they typically use the voter registration in your county to select potential juries. If you are really interested I would responsed that as of 08/25/2014 your are not eligible but as of 08/27/2014 you should be eligible as you will be come a USC and are interested in serving on the jury. Then see what they do. I would state very clearly that you are not yet a USC, but SHOULD be one by 08/27/2014.

Good luck,

Dave

[minions2 24]

i also received a jury summon last week and this is the 2nd time i got one and I'm still GC holder...

[NuHere 6]

You're right that most states use the voter registration rosters for their jury lists, but some have expanded their jury lists to include anyone who applies for a drivers license. So in some states, it's very rare for a non-citizen to get a jury duty call (it only happens if there's a mistake or an improper claim of citizenship), but in other states it happens all the time and it's up to the green card or visa holder to inform them that he's not a citizen and can't serve.

Exactly. I have gotten a jury duty letter a few times in the past, because I have a drivers license. You have to prove that you're not a citizen and then they should take your off their database.

[bruno. 4]

I called today the number on the letter and spoke to a real person. Basically they said that even though I would become a citizen later, at this date I am not a citizen and therefore not eligible. So i returned the letter stating I was not eligible. Better wait for the next letter rather than being accused of false claim to US citizenship. Thanks to all, your advice was very good indeed.

[Harpa Timsah 13,259]

I got jury duty for being on a catalog mailing list, so these claims about voter registration or DLs are myths. Some people never vote because of these myths, and that is a shame. You can get jury duty just for shopping or being alive.

OP: You will get it again, now that you are on their list, so you'll get your chance

Edited August 19, 2014 by Harpa Timsah