Is the switch to six-person juries constitutional?
On June 1, 2015, civil juries will change in size from 12 members to six. The change in jury size, mandated by Pub. Act 98-1132, has led to two interesting discussions - whether a six-person jury requires new litigation strategies and whether the change in jury size is constitutional.
"We've had a 12-person jury going back to 1818, when Illinois was admitted to the Union," says Robert T. Park of Moline. Article I, Section 13 of the Illinois State Constitution states that "the right of trial by jury as heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate." Park wonders whether cutting jury sizes in half after almost 200 years "harms or changes" the right to trial by jury.
But Chicago personal injury lawyer Joseph A. Power says that the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in Wright v. Central Du Page Hospital Ass'n found that as long as the essentials of a right to trial by jury are not undermined, legislators can shape the contours. Find out more from Matthew Hector's article in the March Illinois Bar Journal.
Member Comments (1)
Although a practicing attorney for 20 years, I was "not deselected" for a civil jury of a modest MVA/PI case last spring in the Daley Center. This was for me an amazing insight into the wisdom of the jury trial, relying upon the common sense of 12 jurors. I feel the insights and observations and life experience of each of the 12 were invaluable contributions to the trial's outcome. The trial experience was tremendously different from the perspective of being in the room deliberting with 11 other citizens. Having had this experience, I wonder that 6 jurors would perhaps not have yielded an equally wise outcome in that case. Just one anecdote, I know, but I hope my two cents worth opinion might be of service.