IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
IN RE: NOTICE REGARDING THE )
RANDOM SELECTION OF GRAND ) GENERAL ORDER: 09-1
AND PETIT JURORS )
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1861, all litigants “have the right to grand and petit juries selected
at random from a fair cross section of the community.” The court uses a two-step process to
select jurors. First, a master jury wheel is created by selecting names at random from the
registered voter lists in each gubernatorial general election as maintained in the books or lists of
(1) the office of the County Clerk in each county, (2) the office of the City Clerk in those cities
which have separate registration lists or (3) the office of the State Board of Elections of the State
of Illinois. Then names are randomly drawn periodically from the master jury wheel to receive
juror qualification questionnaires. Individuals’ answers to these questionnaires determine
whether they are legally qualified to serve. If so, the names of those persons are put on a second
wheel, a qualified jury wheel. As prospective jurors are needed for a specific trial or grand jury,
juror summonses are sent to persons randomly selected from the qualified wheel. All of these
selections are carried out through a properly programmed electronic data processing system for
pure randomized selection. The pure randomized process ensures that the mathematical odds of
any single name being picked are substantially equal.
Entered this 20th day of January, 2009.
s/ Michael P. McCuskey
__________________________________________
MICHAEL P. McCUSKEY
Chief Judge, United States District Court
s/ Michael M. Mihm
__________________________________________
MICHAEL M. MIHM
Judge, United States District Court
s/ Joe B. McDade
__________________________________________
JOE B. McDADE
Judge, United States District Court
s/ Jeanne E. Scott
__________________________________________
JEANNE E. SCOTT
Judge, United States District Court
