Former President Obama to serve jury duty Wednesday
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
CHICAGO (Sun-Times / FOX 32) - Former President Barack Obama spent eight years in the White House and more than a decade in office in Illinois.
But civic duty still calls for him in his hometown.
Obama is scheduled for jury duty after 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Daley Center in downtown Chicago.
It’s not the first time a jury summons has been sent to Obama’s Kenwood home, though it will be the first time Obama pockets the handsome $17.20 paycheck that Cook County jurors receive for each day of service.
His name popped up on a jury duty list at the Bridgeview courthouse in January 2010, but, with a busy start to his second year as president — prepping his first State of the Union address, drafting the Affordable Care Act and performing other chores assigned to the leader of the free world — Obama passed along word that he wouldn’t make it.
Other notable Cook County jurors have included Oprah Winfrey, who ended up hearing a murder trial in 2004, and Mr. T, who advertised his civic prowess before being passed over to serve in a 2009 drug case: “If you’re innocent, I’m your best man,” he said. “But if you’re guilty, I pity that fool.”