The Christian Science Monitor

Trump trial: How to safeguard justice, juries, and speech?

When the staff at Fulton County courthouse in Georgia published the names of the 23 grand jurors who voted to indict former President Donald Trump, many Americans were taken aback. Why would you reveal the names of grand jurors in such a sensitive case?

But in Georgia, no one was surprised. It is standard practice here to print grand jurors’ names, unredacted, on indictments. After all, the rationale goes, why should those who make serious allegations against fellow citizens be granted anonymity?

That effort toward transparency has now become a potential liability. Some of Mr. Trump’s supporters have begun circulating the jurors’ names online – along with purported addresses, pictures of homes, and in some cases, racist invectives and threats.

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