Former President Barack Obama has been summoned for jury duty next month in Cook County, Illinois. And he plans to report and serve, according to the chief judge of the county. The Chicago Tribune reported late yesterday that Chief Judge Tim Evans told county commissioners that the former president, who has homes in Chicago and the nation’s capital, was among those called for jury service in November.
The judge later said that the court will accommodate Obama’s Secret Service detail. He did not give a date or location where Obama would be reporting.
Evans said that Obama, through a representative, made it “crystal clear” that he “would carry out his public duty as a citizen and resident of this community.”
The Tribune was unable to reach an Obama spokesman for comment. The former president made no mention of the jury summons on his own highly popular Twitter feed, @barackobama.
Every effort is being taken to maintain the security of the former president, Evans told the Tribune: "His safety will be uppermost in our minds." For that reason, Evans did not release further details about when or where exactly Obama will serve.
Obama graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991 and worked as a civil rights lawyer for a small Chicago firm. He also taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago.
It does not appear that Obama asked for an exemption. "He made it crystal-clear to me through his representative that he would carry out his public duty as a citizen and resident of this community," the Tribune reported Evans as saying.
