Clients are frequently surprised when I inform them that in civil actions, unlike a criminal case, you are not automatically entitled to a jury. In a civil matter, such as in an employment law discrimination case or in a wage and hour case, the Plaintiff/employee has to fight to get a jury trial. Only after defeating an employer’s various motions, in this case the Motion for Summary Judgment are you entitled to a jury of your peers. We can blame this on a number of factors, chief of which is the federal courts and by extension the U.S. Supreme Court’s bias towards corporations. By favoring a system that is more lenient towards corporations, the Courts have in essence limited the public’s right to a jury. This does not bode well for our Democracy – as a trial by jury is the last bastion of equality, not subject to the influences of power or money, for all who come before the People are equal in its eyes. In an article written by U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D.RI), Senator Whitehouse discusses a brief history of jury trials and the importance it held to the drafters of the Constitution, that they made it part of the 7th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. He also discusses legislation presently pending before Congress that may once again make a trial by jury as fundamental and necessary as our right to free speech and arms.