They already have it so that people who can’t read get to vote, so why not let non-English speakers serve on juries?
The New Mexico Supreme Court is cautioning trial courts and lawyers that citizens who don’t speak English have the right to serve on juries.
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The ruling issued Monday tells judges and lawyers that they must make reasonable efforts to protect the rights of non-English speaking citizens to serve on juries.
And since we’re getting all convenient here, can an 18-21 year old be allowed to sit in the jury box and play on his/her smartphone during the trial? After all, this is how they primarily communicate, and “juries of peers” after all.
The state just wants them found guilty so, how hard can it be?
On a more serious note, I thought that to be able to serve on a jury, you had to be a citizen, and I was also under the impression that in order to be a citizen, you had to have a rather decent degree of competency in the English language.
But I guess that those standards could be slipping as well.
I guess you get a “pass” on speaking English to become a citizen these days. After all, we can;t discriminate, can we?
You really didn’t know a person could be born in the US (qualifying them as citizens) and grow up not speaking english? Have you never been to southern AZ?
I have a real hard time with this. Either courts will have to provide translators (how will that work, like the UN), or certain jurors will just miss a lot (the context of language carries so much information).
Or the rest of the jury will have to consume lots of time trying to make the non-English speakers understand.
A Nation is either bi-lingual or it’s not. We’re not. End of story. The entire hispano-love thing may come apart with this move.