It is a known fact that politics has a predominant place in the court room. This knowledge though did not allow me to fully understand how politics effects all aspects of a court room and the cases tried there.

Judge Miller made evident the role personal bias plays as it was necessary for him to give a disclaimer that he cannot be quoted on any opinionated matter and that, as a judge, he is not allowed to give his personal opinion on current political questions.

The selection of a jury is also a process littered with political obstacle. The jury is often an institution within the courtroom that we do not think about. Who are these people? How and why were they selected? How will their personal values and beliefs effect the way they conceptualize this case? Analyzing peoples personal bias’ can be difficult when you must rely on generalizations like, “Females are often critical of other females” and ” African Americans often sympathize with other African Americans.” These generalizations many times place people into categories of judgement that do not reflect how they might view the case in reality. Another impediment of the jury selection process is the difficulty of assembling a diverse jury for reasons such as availability or diversity (lack-there-of) in the surrounding residential areas.