"I did not see any major issues other than the jury substitutions. I can't know whether there's a problem there, until I read the transcript from the in-chambers conference, when those jurors were excused"
About this Quote
A veteran legal journalist’s version of a raised eyebrow, this line performs restraint as a form of critique. Catherine Crier doesn’t allege misconduct; she establishes a perimeter around it. By calling everything else free of “major issues,” she narrows the reader’s attention to a single pressure point: jury substitutions, the one procedural move that can quietly reshape a trial’s outcome while still looking like routine housekeeping.
The phrasing is doing careful work. “I did not see” signals that her skepticism is evidence-based, not ideological. “Other than” is the tell: the exception is big enough to merit its own category. Then comes the key legal-media move: “I can’t know whether there’s a problem there.” That’s not ignorance; it’s disciplined epistemology. She’s reminding the audience that courtroom optics are staged, and the real decisions often happen off-camera, in chambers, where lawyers and judges speak more candidly and the record becomes the battleground.
The insistence on reading “the transcript from the in-chambers conference” signals both due process and distrust. If jurors were excused for cause, hardship, bias, intimidation, or something more strategic, the rationale will be embedded in that transcript - or suspiciously absent. Crier’s subtext is that jury composition is power, and power rarely announces itself loudly. Her intent is to keep the conversation tethered to what can be proven while still flagging the exact place where procedure can be weaponized under the cover of professionalism.
The phrasing is doing careful work. “I did not see” signals that her skepticism is evidence-based, not ideological. “Other than” is the tell: the exception is big enough to merit its own category. Then comes the key legal-media move: “I can’t know whether there’s a problem there.” That’s not ignorance; it’s disciplined epistemology. She’s reminding the audience that courtroom optics are staged, and the real decisions often happen off-camera, in chambers, where lawyers and judges speak more candidly and the record becomes the battleground.
The insistence on reading “the transcript from the in-chambers conference” signals both due process and distrust. If jurors were excused for cause, hardship, bias, intimidation, or something more strategic, the rationale will be embedded in that transcript - or suspiciously absent. Crier’s subtext is that jury composition is power, and power rarely announces itself loudly. Her intent is to keep the conversation tethered to what can be proven while still flagging the exact place where procedure can be weaponized under the cover of professionalism.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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