(Effective 8/23/2023)
STANDING ORDER REGARDING JUROR QUESTIONNAIRES
AND SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH
I utilize the standard Jury Questionnaire administered by our Jury Office, amended to
include some case specific questions, in most cases prior to trial. In advance of jury selection,
the Jury Office will provide to counsel for the parties completed Juror Questionnaires returned
by prospective jurors who have not been excused on the basis of hardship. I will hold a hearing
prior to jury selection to determine whether any respondents should be excused in light of their
answers.
The confidentiality of all completed Juror Questionnaires provided to counsel shall be
maintained by the parties, their counsel, and anyone working for a party or counsel. This Order
also restricts the parties, their counsel and anyone working for a party or counsel from contacting
or attempting to contact any prospective juror. This means that the parties, their counsel, and
any agent, consultant, investigator, or other person working for them shall not communicate with
or otherwise contact or attempt to communicate with or attempt to otherwise contact any
prospective juror in any manner, whether through social media, by email, by telephone or
messaging platforms (including WhatsApp, Telegram, and the like), by mail, or in person.
I do not restrict the parties, their counsel, and any agent, consultant, investigator, or
anyone working for them from conducting research regarding a prospective juror, provided that
it is done only from generally available sources and that there is no actual contact or any
reasonable possibility of contact with a prospective juror. Contact includes notifying a
prospective juror that their social media profile has been viewed by a party, attorney,
investigator, etc., even if that notification is inadvertent or provided automatically by the social
media site. With the recognition that social media is constantly changing and evolving, the
following are guiding, non-exhaustive examples of permissible research and impermissible
contact:
1. LinkedIn may not be used to conduct any research on any prospective juror. The reason
for this restriction is that a prospective juror who is on LinkedIn may be notified of the
identity of anyone who uses LinkedIn to view the prospective juror’s profile or other
information, or be notified that an “anonymous” person viewed the prospective juror’s
profile or that an inquiry through LinkedIn has been made, even if an investigator uses an
account that allows for “anonymous” searches. Those notifications constitute “contact”
with the prospective juror. This restriction also applies to any other form of social media
besides LinkedIn that has this feature or a similar feature, including TikTok if the
automatic notification setting is employed.
2. Some social media sites have features to automatically notify users that their posts have
been seen by certain people, such as temporary “stories” that provide the poster a list of
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(Effective 8/23/2023)
accounts that have “viewed” the post/post. These features may not be used to conduct
any research on any prospective juror, even if they are posted publicly, because the
automatic notification constitutes “contact” with the prospective juror, as the individual
may be notified of the identity of anyone who views their post. This applies to “stories”
on Instagram, SnapChat, and Facebook, and to any other form of social media with
similar automatic notification features.
3. Other social media sites and features may only be used to view publicly available
profiles, feeds, and posts. No “follow requests,” “friend requests,” or the like may be
sent to any prospective juror on any social media site, regardless of whether a profile is
public or private. The reason for this is that these requests constitute contact, and a
prospective juror who uses these sites may be notified of the identity of anyone who
sends such a request. This applies to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, SnapChat,
Threads, and any other form of social media.
4. Only sources that are publicly available and private sources that derive their information
from publicly available sources may be used to research a prospective juror. This
includes private databases maintained by third parties based on open-source or other
publicly available information, notwithstanding the fact that a subscription or fee may be
needed to access those databases.
5. No in-person surveillance, no matter how brief, of any home, neighborhood, or place of
work of any prospective juror or any family member of a prospective juror is allowed.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
William H. Orrick
United States District Judge
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