How federal jury duty starts

This page is a map of the Jury Selection and Service Act, 28 U.S.C. chapter 121, plus what the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts publishes. It is not a substitute for the packet in your hand or for that district’s jury plan.

1. Congress set a policy, not a lottery pitch

28 U.S.C. § 1861 says two things at once. Litigants in federal court are entitled to juries drawn at random from a fair cross section of the community in that district or division. Citizens have the opportunity to be considered, and an obligation to serve when summoned.

2. Each district keeps a master jury wheel

Under § 1863 every district court must follow a written jury selection plan. Plans typically pull names from voter-registration lists and often from driver-license or similar lists so the wheel tracks the adult population of the district. Counties are represented in proportion to registered voters. Names are drawn at random. You do not volunteer onto the wheel, and you cannot pay to stay off it.

There are 94 federal judicial districts. A few states have one district. California, New York, and Texas have four. Territories have their own district courts.

3. The first mailing is usually a qualification form

28 U.S.C. § 1864 tells the clerk to mail a juror qualification form to people drawn from the master wheel, with instructions to complete, sign, swear to, and return it within ten days. Most districts now also offer eJuror as the online path and print that address on the postcard or form.

Federal law requires a response even if you believe you are not qualified, have moved, or will later ask to be excused. If the form is incomplete, the clerk can send it back. If you do not return it, the clerk can summon you to the courthouse to fill it out in person. Willful failure to appear after that order, or a willful false statement on the form, can bring a fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment of not more than three days, community service, or a combination of those. That is § 1864(b), not a caller’s script.

Districts say the same thing in plain language: completing the questionnaire decides eligibility for possible future service. It does not, by itself, set a reporting date.

4. Qualification is a statutory test

28 U.S.C. § 1865 says a person is deemed qualified unless one of the listed disqualifiers applies. The Administrative Office restates those tests for the public. They live on this portal at Who can serve.

Three groups are exempt by statute even if they would like to sit: active-duty armed forces and National Guard; professional (not volunteer) fire and police; and full-time public officers. Other “permanent excuses” — age 70, recent federal jury service, volunteer rescue — exist only if that district’s plan offers them, and only on request.

5. A summons is a later step

When the court needs a grand or petit panel, § 1866 says the clerk issues summonses, served personally or by mail. A summoned person may be excused or deferred by the court, or by the clerk if the plan allows it, on a showing of undue hardship or extreme inconvenience. After the deferral period the name goes back into the process.

Failure to appear on a summons can bring the same $1,000 / three-day / community-service range under § 1866(g), after a show-cause order. Excuses are granted at the court’s discretion and are not appealed to Congress.

6. eJuror is the court’s own portal

uscourts.gov tells summoned or questioned jurors to visit the website of the district that selected them and complete the questionnaire through that court’s eJuror. Through eJuror, districts commonly let a person update an address, check a report date, and submit a request for excuse or deferral. Login is almost always the 9-digit participant number on the paper, plus letters of the last name and a date of birth. Harborline never asks for those.

How eJuror works on this portal

7. Two kinds of federal juries

Petit jurors sit on civil and criminal trials and decide facts under the judge’s instructions. Grand jurors hear evidence in secret and decide whether to return an indictment. Pay rules differ slightly on the extra-day fee. The Administrative Office publishes both handbooks from its Types of Juries page.

Types of juries · uscourts.gov

8. Money and the job

Attendance is $50 per day under 28 U.S.C. § 1871. A trial judge may raise a petit juror to $60 after ten days on one case. A grand-jury judge may do the same after 45 days of actual service. Federal employees receive their regular salary instead of the attendance fee. Mileage and overnight subsistence follow that district’s published rates. Run the arithmetic on the estimator.

28 U.S.C. § 1875 bars an employer from discharging, threatening to discharge, intimidating, or coercing a permanent employee because of federal jury service. It does not require a private employer to keep paying wages. Read the job-protection page.

Start with what you have in hand Find the district Who can serve Read the packet