Barry Bonds And Rod Blagojevich And Secret Juries

The Washington Post ran this very interesting piece about efforts in the Barry Bonds trial to keep the names of jurors anonymous. The judge presiding over the Bonds case pointed to the intense media scrutiny of jurors in the Blagojevich corruption trial as grounds for her rulings protecting juror anonymity in the Bonds case. I suspect folks reading this blog will have knee jerk reactions on the issue both ways. For example, I tend to favor openness, and I’m wary of efforts to shield the public from any aspect of a public trial. But I’ve never served on a jury, and I suspect there are folks who have had that experience that are sympathetic with the desire for privacy, especially when the jurors didn’t exactly volunteer for this gig. My advice? Read the Post article. It presents compelling arguments for both sides. And then make up your mind. Kind of like a juror.