California college cancels graduation ceremony as protests after Israel's war in Gaza continue A leading California university has cancelled its graduation ceremony as protests over Gaza continue to spread on college campuses across the US. The University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles cited "new safety measures" in disbanding the event. Hundreds of people have been arrested on dozens of campuses where protests and encampments have sprung up in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Universities have brought in police to force students to leave. But some are also negotiating. At Columbia University in New York City , where the protests began last week, a Thursday night deadline for an end to the encampment was dropped. Talks were showing progress and would continue, the university said. At Atlanta's Emory University, 28 demonstrators were arrested on Thursday after refusing to leave. ab c USC tense after valedictorian speech cancelled Where are the Gaza pro...
“We have our jury,” Justice Juan M. Merchan proclaimed as the 12th juror was added.
Justice Juan M. Merchan warned against identifying the people who might judge Donald J. Trump, who regularly attacks the justice system.
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| Prosecutors have asked that Donald J. Trump be punished for promoting attacks on the jury system and the court.Pool photo by Brendan McDermid |
At 4:34 p.m. on Thursday, a jury of 12 citizens was selected to determine the fate of an indicted former president for the first time in American history, a moment that could shape the nation’s political and legal landscapes for generations to come.
The dozen New Yorkers will sit in judgment of Donald J. Trump, the 45th president turned criminal defendant, who has been accused of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. If the jurors convict Mr. Trump, he could face up to four years in prison, even as he seeks to reclaim the White House as the presumptive Republican nominee.
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“We have our jury,” Justice Juan M. Merchan proclaimed as the 12th juror was added.
He then swore the seven men and five women to an oath that they would render a fair and impartial verdict, which they accepted with sober expressions as Mr. Trump stared from the defense table. The jurors could hear opening arguments as soon as Monday.
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The selection of the 12 capped a seesaw day in which the judge first excused two people who had been seated earlier in the week, and then hours later replaced them with two new faces and more.
The moment was both routine and never before seen, an act performed every day in courthouses around the country, but never for a former president, a symbol and source of the nation’s political divide.
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Mr. Trump, under the Constitution, is entitled to a fair trial by a jury of his peers. And yet he is peerless, a singular force in American politics who was twice impeached and brought democracy to the brink when he refused to accept his election defeat.
Now, just as he bent the political world to his will, Mr. Trump is testing the limits of the American justice system, assailing the integrity of jury and judge alike. His attacks have emboldened his base, and might well resonate more broadly on the campaign trial.
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But it will be the 12 men and women of the jury — in Mr. Trump’s hometown — who will first decide his fate, before millions more do so at the polls.
The jury’s makeup and the security of its members will be central to the landmark case. Mr. Trump claims he cannot receive a fair trial in one of the nation’s most Democratic counties, a place where he is deeply unpopular, though some of the jurors who ultimately landed on the panel praised him.
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One man said during the selection that he believed the former president had done some good for the country, adding, “it goes both ways.” Another juror, in a possible first for the country, said he didn’t have an opinion on Mr. Trump.
The final 12 were a collection of Manhattanites as eclectic as the city itself. They are Black, Asian, white, male, female, middle-aged and young, including one woman in her first job out of college. They work in finance, education, health care and the law. And they live, among other places, in Harlem, Chelsea, the Upper East Side and Murray Hill.
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One alternate was also picked before court adjourned. The judge plans to conclude jury selection on Friday, when the lawyers will select the remaining five alternates.
The long day got off to an inauspicious start as Justice Merchan excused the two jurors, including a woman who had developed concerns about her identity being revealed. That fear, she added, might compromise her fairness and “decision-making in the courtroom,” prompting the judge to excuse her.
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