We the Facebook (Digging for Dirt and Ditching Jury Duty)

The American Bill of Rights was transplanted wholesale in our Islands, save two provisions: the right to bear arms and the right to trial by jury.

In Dorr v. United States, Justice Day ruled that the Philippines, the grand prize in the Treaty of Paris, was not incorporated into US territory by that same treaty. Thus any right vested by Philippine inhabitants would only arise by an act of Congress. Thus, the right to trial by jury guaranteed by the American Bill of Rights was not available in the Islands.

Justice Harlan's dissent stated that this interpretation constitutes judicial activism, and that the US Constitution is the supreme law "everywhere, at all times, and over all persons who are subject to the authority of the United States".

For whatever other legal or logistic purpose, the jury system is not one of our American heirlooms.

In jurisdictions where it is available, information on how to get out of jury duty is not lacking. The reasons range from inability to be impartial to you-just-don't-wanna-do-it.

Recently, there's this Wall Street Journal Article about the effect of Facebook on the US court system. Apparently, lawyers of both the prosecution and defense have been scouring the pages of Facebook and looking at potential jurors and the possibility of jurors being sympathetic to their cause. It looks like the information posted on Facebook (favorite TV shows, music, academic qualifications etc.) can be used to predict how a person will decide in a case. Oh, this is all legal by the way.

And those divorce attorneys? They've started using Facebook to get more alimony from the spouse at fault.

So for ditching jury duty, by all means, do post your drunken pictures online.

For the rest of us (and this is general advise): filter, filter, filter.