What the E. Jean Carroll Case Can Teach Us About Jury Selection for Trump

Personal information about potential Trump jurors is traveling far outside the courtroom. Jurors feeling “very secure” could be key.

E. Jean Carroll, Roberta Kaplan
Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer who helped Carroll win defamation judgments against Trump , said extraordinary efforts to keep the jury anonymous helped jurors find the courage to serve. Bebeto Matthews/AP

There are a few tricks to seating a full jury when you’re trying a former president. But one of them, according to one of the only lawyers who has already done it, is making sure prospective jurors feel physically safe.

That’s already proving a problem in the first week of proceedings in Donald Trump’s first criminal trial.

Across the week, reporters and cable news hosts have broadcast biographical information about potential jurors that, in some cases, makes it possible for enterprising members of the public to figure out who they are.