On the morning of jury selection, prior to entering the courtroom, the venire will be given a written questionnaire with questions proposed by the parties and approved by the Court. Sample questionnaires are included in the attached documents below. These are examples only and will require revision for each particular case. In general, parties' submissions should not include more than two pages of questions. The parties will be given copies of the jurors' written answers.
A typical juror questionnaire is linked below:
Sample Civil Questionnaire 1
Sample Civil Questionnaire 2
The parties will also be given a copy of the list of potential jurors that is generated by the Clerk's Office in random order. The entire venire will then enter the courtroom in that order, with the first twelve jurors seated in the jury box, and the remaining prospective jurors seated in the gallery. The venire will be sworn after some introductory remarks by the judge. The Court will question each prospective juror about their answers to the questionnaire. Once
all questions have been asked of the first twelve jurors, the judge will
consult with the parties at sidebar as to additional follow-up
questions and will complete questioning of that group. Jurors will be given the opportunity to answer sensitive questions at sidebar if they wish. Challenges for
cause will be heard at sidebar.
The remaining jurors, after the
first twelve, will be questioned in the same manner. After the entire
venire has been questioned and all challenges for cause have been
resolved, the parties will submit peremptory challenges in writing
simultaneously. Each side will have three peremptory challenges, and
multiple defendants or plaintiffs will be considered a single side for
purposes of making challenges. If the parties challenge the same juror,
both sides will be charged for that challenge. Once peremptory
challenges have been submitted, the challenged prospective jurors will
be excused. The jury will usually consist of eight jurors, subject to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 48(a). There are no
alternate jurors. All jurors seated will be allowed to deliberate.