What Is the Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968?

The Jury Selection and Service Act of 1968 is the federal statute that governs how people are chosen to serve on grand and petit juries in United States district courts. It requires that jurors be drawn at random from a fair cross-section of the community, forbids exclusion based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or economic status, and sets the ground rules for qualification, exemptions, pay, service length, and job protection.¹ The Act replaced an older practice in which local officials hand-picked jurors based on personal reputation, a system that routinely left entire groups off the rolls.

The Two Core Rules: Randomness and a Fair Cross-Section

The Act’s policy declaration gives every federal litigant entitled to a jury trial the right to grand and petit juries selected at random from a fair cross-section of the community where the court sits.¹ Two ideas are doing separate work. Random selection means no clerk, judge, or local official chooses who appears. Fair cross-section means the source pool itself has to reflect the community broadly enough that no identifiable group is systematically absent.

To back that up, the statute prohibits excluding any citizen from grand or petit jury service on account of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or economic status.² The ban covers every stage, from gathering names to seating the panel. Economic status is on that list for a reason: it keeps courts from filtering out lower-income residents through the mechanics of selection.

How Federal Jury Pools Are Built

Every federal district court has to adopt a written plan for random jury selection. The plan uses a master jury wheel (or its functional equivalent) holding thousands of names drawn from the district’s population. Names come from voter registration lists or lists of actual voters, and where those sources would leave gaps in community representation, the plan must add supplemental sources. Many districts pull from driver’s license or state ID records for that reason. The master wheel has to be emptied and refilled at least every four years so the names stay current.³

The Qualification Form

When jurors are needed, the clerk randomly draws names from the master wheel and mails each person a juror qualification form. You have ten days to complete it, sign it under oath, and return it.⁴ If it comes back incomplete, the clerk returns it for correction. Ignore it entirely and you can be summoned to appear in person and fill it out in front of the clerk.

The Qualified Jury Wheel

Names that clear the qualification screening move into a second pool, the qualified jury wheel. This wheel holds only people confirmed as eligible and neither exempt nor excused, and panels are drawn from it at random.⁵ The two-wheel design preserves the randomness of the master wheel while making sure the court only summons people who actually meet the legal requirements.

Who Qualifies and Who Is Disqualified

The qualification standards are deliberately objective so no clerk or judge exercises personal discretion. You qualify for federal jury service unless you fall into one of the disqualifying categories.⁶ The baseline requirements are:

U.S. citizenship and at least eighteen years old.
Residence in the judicial district for at least one year.
Ability to read, write, speak, and understand English well enough to complete the qualification form and take part in deliberations.
Physical and mental capacity to render satisfactory service.

Criminal history creates an automatic disqualification. If you are currently charged with a crime punishable by more than one year in prison, or you have been convicted of such a crime and your civil rights have not been restored, you are ineligible.⁶ Restoration can happen through pardon, expungement, or completion of sentence, depending on the jurisdiction where the conviction occurred.

Most federal district courts also let people over age 70 request a permanent excuse from service.⁷ This is a voluntary opt-out rather than a disqualification, and the exact policy varies among the 94 district courts.

Exemptions and Excuses From Service

The Act separates exemptions, which remove whole categories of people, from excuses, which are granted individually.

Categorical Exemptions

Three groups are barred from serving because their duties are considered essential:

Active-duty members of the Armed Forces of the United States.
Members of professional fire or police departments at any level of government.
Active public officers in the executive, legislative, or judicial branches at the federal, state, or local level who are performing official duties.

These exemptions are mandatory. A police officer or active-duty service member cannot waive the exemption and volunteer to sit.³

Individual Excuses for Hardship

Beyond the categorical exemptions, a court can excuse someone who shows undue hardship or extreme inconvenience. You have to ask, and the court evaluates each request. Typical grounds include a serious medical condition, caregiving responsibilities that cannot be transferred to someone else, or a travel burden the court considers unreasonable. Each district sets its own written guidelines to keep decisions consistent.

What You Get Paid and How Long You Serve

Federal jurors are paid $50 per day for each day they actually attend court, including travel days at the beginning and end of service.⁸ Petit jurors who serve more than ten days on a single case can receive up to an additional $10 per day at the trial judge’s discretion. Grand jurors get the same increase after forty-five days of actual service.

Mileage is reimbursed separately, based on the shortest practical route between home and the courthouse, at a per-mile rate set by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. That rate cannot exceed what supporting court personnel receive for using private vehicles.⁸ Bridge, tunnel, and toll road charges are reimbursed in full, and reasonable parking fees can be approved with a receipt. Jurors who take public transit can be reimbursed for the actual fare at the court’s discretion when it exceeds the mileage allowance. When service requires an overnight stay, jurors receive a subsistence allowance for meals and lodging, capped at the rate paid to supporting court personnel in the same area.

The Act limits how much time any one person can be asked to give. Within a two-year period, you cannot be required to serve or attend court for petit jury service for more than thirty days total, unless a trial you are already sitting on runs longer.⁹ In that same window, you cannot be required to serve on more than one grand jury, or to serve as both a grand and petit juror.

Job Protection While You Serve

Federal law makes it illegal for any employer to fire, threaten, intimidate, or coerce a permanent employee because of jury service or scheduled attendance related to service.¹⁰ The protection starts when the summons arrives and runs through the entire service period. The statute does not require your employer to pay your salary while you are gone, but the anti-coercion language is broad enough that no form of punishment for serving is allowed.

When you return, your employer has to treat the time away as a leave of absence. That means no loss of seniority, and continued eligibility for insurance and other benefits under whatever policies apply to employees on leave. Employers who violate these protections face a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per employee, and the court can also order community service. An employee who is fired or penalized can sue for reinstatement and recover lost wages and benefits, and if the employee wins with a private attorney, the court can award reasonable attorney fees.¹⁰

If You Ignore the Summons

A federal jury summons is not something you can throw away. The district court can order the person to appear and explain the failure to comply. If the explanation does not amount to good cause, the penalties include a fine of up to $1,000, up to three days in jail, an order to perform community service, or any combination of those.⁶ Most courts start with a follow-up letter or a show-cause order, but the statutory authority for immediate sanctions is there. The same penalties apply to anyone who fails to return the qualification form after being directed to do so.

Challenging a Jury That Wasn’t Properly Selected

If a party thinks the pool was assembled in a way that substantially failed to follow the Act, the statute provides a specific procedure. The challenge must be filed before jury questioning begins or within seven days of discovering the problem, whichever comes first.¹¹ In criminal cases, the defendant or the Attorney General can move to dismiss the indictment or stay proceedings. In civil cases, either party can move for a stay.

The moving party files a sworn statement of facts that, if true, would amount to a substantial failure to follow the Act. The court then allows access to relevant records, including the jury commission’s internal paperwork, and can hear testimony from the clerk or commissioners. A finding of substantial violation in grand jury selection lets the court stay proceedings while a new grand jury is assembled or dismiss the indictment. For petit jury violations, the court stays the case until a compliant jury is selected.¹¹ This procedure is the exclusive way to challenge jury composition on the ground that the Act itself was violated, though it does not close off other civil or criminal remedies under separate anti-discrimination laws.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1861 – Declaration of Policy
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1862 – Discrimination Prohibited
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1863 – Plan for Random Jury Selection
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1864 – Drawing of Names From the Master Jury Wheel; Completion of Juror Qualification Form
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1866 – Selection and Summoning of Jury Panels
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. Chapter 121 – Juries; Trial by Jury
7
United States Courts. Juror Qualifications, Exemptions, and Excuses
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1871 – Fees
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1866 – Selection and Summoning of Jury Panels
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1875 – Protection of Jurors Employment
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 U.S.C. 1867 – Challenging Compliance With Selection Procedures