Gov. Hochul should block this racist bill to let felons serve on juries

Before ending its session this year, the state Legislature passed the Jury of Our Peers Act; it’s critical that Gov. Hochul veto it. The bill would repeal New York’s ban on felons serving on juries — going far beyond the current administrative process that allows New Yorkers with a single felony conviction to get their jury-service-eligibility restored.The bill’s sponsors, state Sen. Cordell Cleare and Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, insist this would benefit black New Yorkers by shifting the racial composition of juries.But in reality, the bill’s most consequential result would be to tilt the scales of justice yet further toward criminals.Potential jurors who are convicted felons would still be unlikely to serve; instead, prosecutors would be forced to use some of their limited number of peremptory challenges during jury selection to reject them.After all, would an assistant district attorney allow a gang member with multiple convictions to adjudicate a gang assault? Restoring felons’ jury-service rights would thus create another advantage for defense attorneys, whose own peremptory challenges would remain undiminished.Further, equating convicted felons with black citizens is misguided and, bluntly, racist.Advocating in Albany, New York Civil Liberties Union executive Perry Grossman claimed, “For decades . . . our state’s jury ban...