On the 8th of November, former president Barak Obama answered to jury summons, but was soon dismissed after arriving at a Chicago courthouse.
As a prospective juror, Obama joined fellow citizens at Cook County’s Daley Center courthouse, all waiting to see if they would be chosen to serve on a trial.
The former leader of the free world was the only juror to arrive by motorcade, however, accompanied by tight security and met with a throng of news media and court staff trying to snap a picture.
The 44th president’s motorcade — considerably shorter than the one he had when he lived in the White House — left his home in the Kenwood neighborhood on the city’s South Side and arrived at the Richard J. Daley Center shortly after 10 a.m.
Obama — wearing a dark sport coat and dress shirt, but without a tie — waved to people who gathered outside after hearing reports that he would be reporting for jury duty. Obama thanked everyone for showing up, and was surprised by some who presented him with copies of his books to sign.
Angel Martinez who also had been summoned for jury duty, shared a video of the former president shaking hands with the crowd.
OBAMA!Jury duty & I just shook hands with the best president ever!! #obama #Chicago #juryduty @BarackObama @POTUS44 @MichelleObama pic.twitter.com/OxdX2g2E0F
— Angel Martinez ? (@1992AngelM) November 8, 2017
By lunchtime, a judge had determined that the panel of potential jurors Obama was a part of would not be needed, and the former law professor left by midday, along with a number of others who were randomly selected for dismissal.
The former leader of the free world should still be eligible to receive the $17.20 a day that jurors are paid for performing their civic duty.
He is not the first former president to be called to jury duty. In 2015, former President George W. Bush answered the call in Dallas. He was not selected to sit on a jury. And in 2003, former President Bill Clinton reported for jury duty in federal court in New York City. He also was not selected.
Nor is he the first famous Chicagoan to be called to jury duty. In 2004, Oprah Winfrey was on a Chicago jury that convicted a man of murder. A decade later, Lawrence Tureaud, better known as Mr. T, showed up to a suburban Chicago courthouse for jury duty, sporting his usual Mohawk, but without the gold chains for which he is known. But despite the more subdued outfit, Mr. T was not chosen to sit on a jury.
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