Tsarnaev appeared understandably bored with voir-dire as questioning of individual jurors was repeated over and again. By day six it’s beginning to feel a bit like Groundhog Day, and may well go on till then.
Dzhokhar isn’t the only one losing interest. The networks have are now only interested in a few days of trial, so I’ll be back for opening statements, closing arguments, and perhaps a day or two of testimony.
As questioning, or voir-dire, of individual members of the jury pool gets off to a slow start I have the luxury of observing, almost at leisure, the defendant in the Boston Marathon bombing. I can’t report what I hear in the courtroom, but I can tell you what I see.
Each morning, before the judge takes the bench, Federal Public Defender Miriam Conrad has a friendly chat with Dzhokhar. I can’t see his expression, but she is smilling and he’s responding.
I hadn’t noticed it before, but Tsarnaev has a nasty looking scar running down the back of his neck from behind his left ear. Also, his upper eyelid is swollen and seems to bother him.
Tsarnaev often doodles on a legal pad as questioning of potential jurors drags on.
Individual voir dire of potential jurors in the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev began today and is expected to go on for at least another week.
I lucked out as I was the only media allowed in the courtroom for the questioning of potential jurors (I was later joined by my fellow sketch-artist Jane Collins). The condition was that I not report what I heard, therefor I’ll just post sketches and shut up (my hearing’s not too good anyway).
“Justice Scalia has the opinions in two cases,” the Chief Justice announced as Scalia’s chair sat empty, “he’s asked that I announce them.”
It’s not unusual for the a senior justice to announce the opinion of an absent justice. There are often one or more empty chairs on opinion days when no arguments are heard. But there were two cases to be argued today and unless a justice has recused themselves you can expect that they’ll be on the bench.
Scalia did eventually appear from the maroon curtains behind the bench just as the first argument was getting under way, a sex discrimination case that was really about the EEOC’s failure to use “conciliation” in enforcing Title VII. It turns out the justice was merely delayed in traffic.
You can read Mark Walsh’s account of Scalia’s tardy arrival here on SCOTUSblog.
Here are a couple sketches fro the argument in Mach Mining v. EEOC.
Also spotted in the courtroom today, and also not unusual, was Cecilia Marshall, wife of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall. She is a frequent visitor to the Court.
The Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments about a small town’s attempt to regulate temporary signs directing the way to religious services. I’ll simply post my sketches and, if you want to read about it, I direct you to Lyle’s analysis on SCOTUSblog.
Courtartist is me, Arthur Lien. I've been sketching the courts since 1976, and for most of that time the U.S. Supreme Court has been my regular beat. I've been working almost exclusively for NBC News since 1980.
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