Jury duty for Palo Alto residents

Sooner or later most Palo Alto adults find a jury summons in the mailbox. Usually it comes from the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, which handles state criminal and civil trials. Less often it comes from the federal court in San Jose. The two systems have different rules, different pay and different courthouses.

This guide covers both, with the county system first. Details come from the Superior Court's jury duty pages and the federal court's juror pages as they read in October 2026. Always follow the instructions printed on your own summons, since they override anything general.

Who gets called

The county court draws names at random from lists of state tax filers, registered voters and DMV license and ID card holders who live in the county. It may also use other sources such as utility lists. So skipping voter registration does not keep you off the list. Our voting guide covers registration anyway. Once on the list, your name stays there for at least a year.

You are qualified unless one of the legal exceptions applies. The court lists these, among others:

• You are not a U.S. citizen or are under 18.
• You do not live in Santa Clara County.
• You lack enough English to serve as a juror.
• You served as a trial or grand juror in the past 12 months.
• You are currently incarcerated, on felony parole or probation or under a conservatorship.

Stanford students who are registered to vote or licensed in the county can be summoned like anyone else. Students who cannot serve during the quarter can usually move service to a school break.

What to do when the summons arrives

Every summons needs a response. The court's summons page lays out the steps:

1. Register on the Online E-Juror Portal by verifying or updating your personal information.
2. Ask for changes if needed. Through the same portal you can request a postponement, an excuse or a disqualification. If you cannot use the website, mail a signed letter with your juror badge number, name and address within 10 days of receiving the summons.
3. Check in the weekend before your service week, online or by calling (408) 808-6666, for reporting instructions.
4. Stay on standby all week. Check your status each day as the summons directs until you are told to report or your service is complete.

Email to the jury office is for information only. The court will not accept postponement or excuse requests by email. Ignoring a summons can lead to an order to appear and a finding of contempt, so respond even if you think you are not qualified.

Postponements

Every juror gets one postponement per summons. Service weeks start on Monday, or Tuesday after a Monday court holiday. The new week must usually fall within 90 days of the original. Students are expected to choose a school break within six months. Pick a week you can truly keep, since a second request is much harder to get.

Where you might report

Jurors can be sent to any of four locations, depending on the court's needs. Palo Alto residents are not guaranteed the local courthouse.

The Palo Alto Courthouse

The Palo Alto Courthouse is open and hearing cases. The court's location page lists it for criminal matters in departments 84 to 89, with building hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. It sits in the civic center area off Grant Avenue, near the California Avenue business district and within walking distance of the California Avenue Caltrain station. The court's list of county courthouses shows a separate Santa Clara Courthouse as temporarily closed. That one is not in Palo Alto.

If you are told to report to Palo Alto, the court says the small tab on the side of your summons serves as your parking permit. Detach it and keep it. Elsewhere, juror parking is limited and the court strongly encourages transit. For San Jose, Caltrain to Diridon station and VTA light rail reach both downtown courthouses.

Parking tickets

The court is blunt about this. If you are cited for illegal parking while on jury service, the ticket is yours to pay and the court cannot dismiss it. Do not park at a meter, since you will not be allowed to leave once court is in session. Our parking tickets guide explains how to contest a city citation if one does happen.

What a day looks like

Plan to be at court from about 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you report and are not sent to a courtroom that day, your service is done at the end of the day. If you are sent to a courtroom, you stay until you are excused from jury selection. If you are sworn in as a juror or alternate, you serve for the whole trial.

The court says civil trials last one to two weeks or sometimes longer, averaging around five days. Criminal trials generally run two to three weeks or longer. Twelve to eighteen people are called into the jury box at a time for questioning. Dress as you would for a business meeting, with no shorts or tank tops. You may bring a book for breaks. The court does not provide meals.

Pay and your job

The court's juror information page lists:

• $15 a day, starting with the second day of service. The first day is unpaid.
• 34 cents a mile for travel, calculated from your home ZIP code.
• $12 a day for public transit instead of mileage, available since January 1, 2023. Ask the jury clerk for the form.

Days on standby do not count as paid service. Payroll runs every two weeks and the post office will not forward juror checks, so keep your address current. Government employees who receive their regular pay while serving sign a waiver and do not receive the $15.

California Labor Code section 230 bars employers from firing or harassing an employee for jury service as long as reasonable notice is given. Employers do not have to pay you during service, though many do under company policy or union contracts. Teachers and students have separate protections in the Education Code. The state Labor Commissioner's office handles complaints.

Federal jury service in San Jose

A summons from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is a separate obligation. The district covers 15 counties, including Santa Clara and San Mateo. It holds trials in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Eureka. Palo Alto residents are usually summoned to the San Jose courthouse at 280 South First Street. Once you are summoned to one location, the court says your service cannot be transferred.

The federal court's juror pages describe how it works:

• Questionnaire first. Complete the juror qualification questionnaire through eJuror or call 1-800-569-7658.
• Two weeks on call. You are on call for 10 consecutive court days and check the evening before each day for instructions.
• One day or one trial. If you report and are not picked, your service ends. If you are picked, you serve for that trial.
• Postponement. One postponement of up to six months, requested at least two weeks before your on-call period.
• Excuses on request. Available if you are 75 or older, served in court within the past 12 months, are a volunteer firefighter or rescue crew member, are the sole caregiver of a young child or an infirm person and not employed outside the home. Living more than 80 miles from the courthouse also qualifies.

Federal jurors are paid $50 a day according to uscourts.gov, rising to up to $60 a day after 10 days on a trial if the judge orders it. Travel reimbursement also applies. Federal law protects permanent employees from being fired or threatened because of federal jury service. The court warns of phone scams in which callers pose as jury staff, marshals or judges.

For more on getting to San Jose, see our San Jose guide.

Frequently asked questions