General
Jefferson County mothers are hopeful that a recent courtroom incident will lead to better legal protections for nursing women.
Kandace Brown on Jan. 13 said she reported to the Jefferson County Courthouse for jury duty with her three-month-old daughter Parker in tow.
For the next few hours, Brown said she was met with threats and hostility from judges and other courtroom employees after she told them her baby had to stay with her to be breastfed.
“I went today with Parker in tow (in the middle of sick season) and it was a horrible experience,” Brown wrote in a Facebook post.
“There were 2 other mothers there and the judge said that those with children there need to make accommodations for their children to be picked up. (The judge said) they would hate for DHR to be involved!!!”
Brown claims Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Shanta Owens is the one who threatened to call DHR. She added that Circuit Court Judges Elisabeth French and Marshell Jackson Hatcher also addressed the group.
Brown said she had called and turned in forms to be excused prior to reporting for jury duty but was refused.
“The judge would not excuse me, and said I need to make accommodations for her,” she posted.
“I said I could not or my baby couldn’t eat. She [Hatcher] made me sit back down to wait another almost hour for all the excuses to be heard.”
Efforts to obtain comments from Judges French and Hatcher on Wednesday were not immediately successful.
Judge Owens, in a statement to AL.com on Wednesday, said Brown was excused and called the situation a “misunderstanding.”
“The juror was indeed excused a short time after arriving for jury service, as was any other similarly situated individual called for jury service,” Owens’ statement read. “I, too, am a mother and have been a breastfeeding mother previously and therefore, would excuse jury service for a period of time for any individual under the circumstances.”
Owens added that under state law “there are well-established mechanisms in place to excuse individuals from jury duty prior to service.”
“I take these procedures seriously to ensure that the jury selection process runs lawfully, smoothly, and efficiently. If any additional laws are enacted regarding jury service or any other matter, I would be delighted to follow those laws as well,” Owens wrote.
“I have been serving as a judge for over 16 years and, throughout this time, I have seen firsthand how vital it is for our justice system to function without disruptions, the most important of these being jury service. The integrity of the judicial process is paramount, and I will continue to work toward ensuring that our trials proceed fairly and efficiently for all parties involved.”
Brown said that after waiting an hour she was released from jury duty and sent to the front to speak with a clerk.
“The clerk sat me down at her computer, got my name and date of birth, how old my baby was, when she would turn one year old and said, ‘You are released for the day, but you will be called back very soon, and you cannot bring your baby with you,’” Brown said in an interview with AL.com.
“If I’m still breastfeeding, I’m going to have to (bring the baby). I don’t have a choice. Like she would literally starve for the day or the week if I was chosen, if I come back. And (the clerk) said, ‘All I’m telling you is you can’t bring your baby with you… She said, ‘Well, you should pump.’”
“How could the courts dictate how my child eats?” Brown said.
“She’s a tiny three-month-old. We’re not talking about a 2-year-old here.”
Brown said her experience was “awful” and that she was surprised there weren’t greater protections in place for mothers.
“I’m honestly just appalled at our judicial system concerning women and children’s health,” she wrote in her post.
“I will absolutely report for jury duty and serve. I just cannot when my infant daughter depends on me for her basic need in life. The treatment we experienced today was awful.”
“He told me he was ‘disgusted and appalled.’”
Brown’s post has received thousands of reactions.
Other mothers have come forward to say they have had similar experiences at the Jefferson County Courthouse.
Mary Ellen Moore said she was publicly humiliated by an unnamed judge after she was forced to serve in August 2024 with her nine-month-old child who was breastfeeding.
“While I was holding my infant in my arms, the judge proceeded to absolutely berate me in front of a large group of people in the court room,” Moore told AL.com.
“He told me he was ‘disgusted and appalled’ that a mother would use her child to get out of jury service. He said he was shocked that I would expose my baby to all the germs at the courthouse because of my selfishness.”
“He said I should have made arrangements.”
Another mother, Rebekah Reed, said her husband had to take off work when she was summoned for a third time as her toddler son was breastfeeding.
“At my second summons date (after being released the first time due to breastfeeding), I brought my kids with me again because I was still breastfeeding, still a primary caregiver, etc.,” she said.
“The judge I spoke with this time was incredibly rude and condescending. She said, ‘Can’t someone come get them?’ and ‘Why can’t you just put them in daycare for a week?’”
“She told me they would not defer me again after this time, so when I showed up for my third summons (a year after the first, with my son still breastfeeding), my husband took off of work to watch the kids at a brand-new job with only a few days of PTO.”
What does the law say?
Under Alabama law, there are no protections exempting nursing mothers from jury duty.
In 2022, former state representative and current State Auditor Andrew Sorrell sponsored a bill that would have excused nursing mothers from serving as a juror.
Sorrell said he was told by the House Committee on Constitution, Campaigns and Elections that he “had a solution looking for a problem.”
“My wife was pregnant at the time,” Sorrell said.
“She said, ‘Hey, theoretically, what would happen if I got called to jury duty and I have a nursing infant?’ And I said, well, obviously you would be excused under Alabama law. And then I checked it. Not true at all.”
“I drafted a bill and introduced it. When I got that bill before committee and presented it, the objections from legislators were, ‘Do you have any stories of anyone this has actually happened to?’
“I said, ‘Well, I mean, not off the top of my head, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening,’” Sorrell recalled.
“Their other objection was …. any reasonable judge would exempt a nursing mother from jury duty,” he said. “Well, as we found out two days ago, not all judges are reasonable.”
Sorrell said while he’s “very sorry” for what happened to Candace, this was all entirely preventable.
“And the thing is, this is not a partisan issue,” he continued.
“Democrats and Republicans can both agree that Candace has a three-month-old. How in the world is she supposed to do jury duty with a three-month-old that exclusively breastfeeds?”
He added that the DHR comments Brown reported were “over the line” and suggested that the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission look into it.
After reading Candace’s story, Sorrell said he reached out to Rep. Susan Dubose, R-Hoover and Sen. April Weaver, R-Brierfield who have started the steps to take up his previous legislation.
“Alabama always says it’s a pro-family state, but this is one of the most anti-family provisions in the law,” Sorrell said.
Brown said Dubose has reached out to her several times this week already.
Efforts to reach Dubose and Weaver for comment were not immediately successful.
Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, also expressed interest in adding to her existing prefiled legislation that would extend legal protections for nursing mothers at work to also protect mothers on juries.
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