Today's New York Sun reports that a New York federal district judge has asked lawyers to submit briefs on the propriety, in an upcoming criminal trial, of either side disqualifying jurors because of their "obvious" Jewish or Arab names. Lobbyists Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman, former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, are charged with passing on classified information to journalists and Israeli officials. The U.S. Supreme Court has clearly prohibited excluding jurors on the basis of race or gender, but has not clarified whether this applies to religion as well. In another twist, defense attorneys are particularly interested in questioning potential jurors about their religion, ethnicity and political party affiliation, possibly in order to retain Jewish and evangelical Christian jurors-- individuals who are likely to be pro-Israel. Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz argues that retaining, as opposed to striking, jurors on this basis is not a problem.
