Judge George Daniels Visits with Cadets

United States District Court Judge George Daniels visited with cadets in the Advanced Constitutional Law class. Judge Daniels has been a federal judge at the trial level for eighteen years. Prior to becoming a judge, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, a Manhattan criminal court judge, a Legal Aid attorney, and counsel to the mayor of New York City. Judge Daniels spoke with the cadets about the constitutional right to an impartial jury. He discussed the measures employed by federal district judges to establish and maintain impartiality of the jury in criminal cases. He described the processes known as voir dire, where prospective jurors are questioned to determine whether they can be fair and impartial during deliberations, and peremptory challenges, where the prosecution and defense can remove prospective jurors without having to explain their reasons for doing so.