Baltimore City Jury Duty: Do judges or security require masks to be momentarily removed?

Submitted by Best-Waverly t3_ylcvfo in baltimore

For anyone who has been on Baltimore City jury duty since the court ended its mask mandate in March, were you allowed to keep your mask on continuously or were you told to temporarily remove your mask at any point?

I ask because some courts around the country now have protocols that require people to temporarily remove their masks, either as part of the security screening to enter the courthouse, or when speaking to the judge during the voir dire portion of jury selection.

The jury duty FAQ for Baltimore City Courts says "You may be required lower your mask while speaking," but has anyone seen that happen? Are there Baltimore City judges who require all prospective jurors to speak maskless in their courtroom, or can masks always be kept on unless they really make you hard to understand?

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Comments

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Exotic-Row6075 t1_iuy97nd wrote

I was at jury duty a few weeks ago and if you want to wear a mask you can and if you don’t want to wear a mask you don’t have to

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todareistobmore t1_iuyh3we wrote

The only time you'd be asked to speak is if you answer yes to any of the potentially disqualifying questions and are asked to go up to provide an explanation.

I served on a jury in June and at no point was asked to remove my mask, but I wasn't asked to speak at any point either.

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itsyabitsjace t1_iv0tr5f wrote

i had jury duty in june and the judge had us stand, remove our masks and state our juror numbers. then when we stood to say yes to the disqualifying questions he also asked us to take our masks off while speaking. i just pulled mine down, said what i needed to, and pulled it back up. seems like it just depends on the judge

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Best-Waverly OP t1_iv255v7 wrote

Thanks! Based on the other responses, it does seem like it depends on which of the dozens of judges you get, and the judges who always require unmasking might be in the minority. That helps!

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TheOkayestLawyer t1_iuz0go2 wrote

Courthouses are mask optional. Only reason you’d be asked to remove it is if you speak too quietly.

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[deleted] t1_iuybcdv wrote

Could come in handy if you land a case with a vindictive sort on trial.

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