Sponsors (13)
The bill broadens federal jury access and inclusion for people with disabilities by requiring reasonable accommodations, at the cost of added administrative responsibilities, potential short-term disruptions, and modest new expenses for federal courts.
People with disabilities will be eligible to serve on federal grand and petit juries and cannot be excluded solely because of a disability, increasing civic inclusion and making juries more representative.
Federal courts must consider and provide reasonable accommodations for jurors with disabilities, improving courtroom accessibility and creating more consistent accommodation standards across districts.
District courts will face new implementation and operational burdens (new procedures, staff training, and courtroom logistics) to assess and provide accommodations, which could complicate case management and cause short-term delays.
Providing reasonable accommodations may create additional administrative and accommodation costs for courts, with costs ultimately borne by taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars disability-based exclusion from federal juries and requires reasonable accommodations so qualifying individuals are not disqualified.
Official title: Amend title 28, United States Code, to prohibit the exclusion of individuals from service on a Federal jury on account of disability.
Introduced July 28, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress July 28, 2025
Amends federal jury-qualification law to bar excluding people from federal jury service because of disability and to limit disqualification for age-related "infirmity." It requires that people who would qualify except for a disability must be considered able to serve if a reasonable accommodation would allow full participation. The change replaces the vague term "infirmity" with "disability that cannot be reasonably accommodated" and adds an explicit prohibition on disqualifying potential jurors when reasonable accommodations would allow them to meet qualification rules.