PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Less than a month after the state Supreme Court struck down a law allowing county commissioners to get rid of elected jury overseers, the governor signed a replacement law, Senate Bill 808.
Proponents of S.B. 808 say it’s no longer necessary to elect jury commissioners from opposing parties because computers can create random jury lists and court employees handle most jury arrangements anyway.
Douglas Hill of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania said that in many counties, the job has become “purely ceremonial. They would welcome the jurors, say, ‘Here’s what’s going to happen and here’s where the coffee machine is.’ ” … (more)
