Famous quote by Antonio Villaraigosa

"The great thing about our system of democracy is when they call you for jury duty, you have to come... It's an honor and a privilege. I was called and I've got to be here"

About this Quote

Calling jury duty a great thing about democracy reframes a legal obligation as a civic privilege. The statement acknowledges the inconvenience, “when they call you for jury duty, you have to come”, while insisting that compulsion is part of the system’s moral architecture. A democracy asks ordinary people not merely to vote but to share responsibility for justice. The requirement to appear binds citizens into a common enterprise; it says that the law is not something done to the people, but something done by them.

Describing service as an honor does more than flatter civic sensibilities. It signals equality before the law and equality within the law’s making. Wealth, office, and status do not excuse one from the summons; when a public figure says, “I was called and I’ve got to be here,” he models the humility democracy requires. The legitimacy of verdicts grows from this shared submission to procedure, where the governed stand as governors, judging facts, weighing evidence, and tempering state power with community judgment.

Calling it a privilege also invokes the educational dimension of jury service. Sitting with strangers, listening carefully, testing one’s own biases, and deliberating toward a verdict train the habits that sustain self-government: patience, reason-giving, respect for disagreement, and responsibility for consequential decisions. These are not abstract virtues; they are practiced in a room where someone’s liberty is at stake.

There is a quiet defense of institutions embedded in the remark. Democracies are sustained not only by elections and rights, but by routines that require participation even when inconvenient. The summons is the state’s reminder that citizenship is active. By answering it, people help keep courts grounded in the lived experience of the community and prevent justice from becoming a remote technocratic exercise. The remark blends duty with dignity: you must come, and that necessity is exactly what makes your presence meaningful.

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About the Author

USA Flag This quote is written / told by Antonio Villaraigosa somewhere between January 23, 1953 and today. He/she was a famous Politician from USA. The author also have 3 other quotes.
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