Derek Chauvin

Blue State Blues: 2021 Was the Year of the Jury Trial

If 2020 was the year of the riot, 2021 was the year of the jury trial — the year when Americans quietly and anonymously asserted the rule of law in the most direct fashion possible: by considering the facts, and pronouncing guilt or innocence.

Kyle Rittenhouse waits for the jury to enter the room to continue testifying during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on November 10, 2021. (Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool)