Judge allows anonymous jury for Trump rape lawsuit trial

Jurors' names will be kept secret at the upcoming civil trial in a writer's rape lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, a judge ruled Thursday, citing “a very strong risk” they would otherwise face harassment and more.

Anonymous juries are unusual, particularly outside criminal cases. The Associated Press and the Daily News of New York objected to the plan to conceal the identities of jurors in the trial over columnist E. Jean Carroll's claim — denied by Trump — that the Republican raped her in the 1990s.

But U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said he was concerned that jurors would be subjected to unwanted attention from the media and “harassment or worse” from supporters of a president who has railed against the judicial process, or from people unhappy with any verdict that might ensue.

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“On the basis of the unprecedented circumstances in which this trial will take place, including the extensive pretrial publicity and a very strong risk that jurors will fear harassment, unwanted invasions of their privacy and retaliation,” he wrote, “there is strong reason to believe that the jury needs the protection.” Carroll's lawyers declined to comment. Trump lawyer Alina Habba said she didn't want jurors “to feel any outside pressure or influence" at the trial, set to start late next month.

“Anonymity will help ensure that their decision is based solely on the facts presented to them,” Habba said, insisting those facts would “irrefutably vindicate” Trump.

Besides having their names kept confidential, jurors will be transported to and from court and sequestered from the public while on breaks there.

There is a history of federal courts finding that jurors' names are public record, and reasoning that such openness quells potential public suspicions about the selection process. But courts also have allowed exceptions to protect the jury, sometimes in cases involving allegations of terrorism, organized crime or prior jury tampering.