Jury selection is 'more art than science' — especially when the defendant is Trump

Despite all his delay tactics, jury selection in former President Donald Trump's first criminal trial is scheduled to get underway Monday morning, April 15 in a Manhattan courtroom. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's hush money/falsifying business records case will mark the first time in U.S. history that a former president has gone to trial on criminal charges.

In an article published on April 15, Politico's Kyle Cheney examines the types of things that the opposing sides — Bragg's office and Trump's defense team — will be looking for when "selecting a jury that can fairly judge one of the most famous and polarizing figures alive."

"Picking a jury is more art than science, designed to expose potential jurors' explicit and implicit biases and smoke out even a well-meaning person's subconscious leanings," Cheney explains. "To that end, prosecutors and defense lawyers, working with judges, typically craft interview questions aimed at delving into the minds of prospective jurors, sometimes in roundabout ways that can seem odd or invasive. When the defendant is Trump, those challenges are magnified."

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Cheney adds, "He's attacked prosecutors and judges, earned blanket media coverage across the nation and used his social media reach to convince millions of supporters that the criminal cases against him are politically motivated."

The Politico reporter notes that Judge Juan Merchan has "settled on a questionnaire" for prospective jurors.

"This is where things get diciest," Cheney notes. "Prosecutors and defense lawyers for Trump are both keenly interested in catching any whiff of political bias from a prospective juror. But all sides acknowledge that simply belonging to or identifying with the Republican or Democratic parties is not a reason to disqualify a prospective juror."

Cheney continues, "Yet prosecutors, both state and federal, as well as Trump's lawyers have loaded up their questionnaires with attempts to divine the political leanings of prospective jurors and whether those biases might be insurmountable."

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Read Politico's full report at this link.