Kandace Brown is an Alabama mother of four with an exclusively breastfed infant. When she received a jury summons in December 2024, she tried to postpone her civic duty but allegedly received pushback from Jefferson County courts. Because she did not receive a dismissal, she showed up at the courthouse on January 13 with her 3-month-old daughter, Parker.
Brown assumed that when a judge saw her and she explained her plight, she would be free to go home. Brown quickly discovered that wasn’t the case at all.
According to a Facebook post, the judge – who was a woman –apparently took no pity on Brown and allegedly told her she’d have to give Parker a bottle. When the mother pushed back, the judge didn’t seem to care.
But it apparently wasn’t just her. Brown told CBS 42 that other mothers also showed up to court with their children in tow, and the judge allegedly made smug remarks.
“The judge said on the microphone, I can’t see the children, but I hear that kids are here today. You need to make accommodations for your child to come and be picked up. We would hate for DHR to be involved. And so, we’re like, ‘oh gosh surely this can’t happen,'” Brown told the news outlet.
“I cannot get childcare that can breastfeed my baby for me. She would be screaming in hunger and to threaten to take my baby because of this?!?!? What in the world?” Brown wrote in her Facebook post. “Surely an idle threat but why make that threat at all?? The judge would not excuse me, and said I need to make accommodations for her. I said I could not or my baby couldn’t eat. She made me sit back down to wait another almost hour for all the excuses to be heard.”
Brown told CBS 42 she sat and listened to all of the other potential jurors who wanted to be excused before the judge ultimately dismissed her.
“She said ‘Well, I can tell you you can be excused today, but you will be called back very soon and when you are you cannot bring your baby with you.'” Brown told the news outlet.
Brown wrote on Facebook that she looked into Alabama law and found no protections for breastfeeding moms. “I’m honestly just appalled at our judicial system concerning women and children’s health. I will absolutely report for jury duty and serve,” she wrote. “I just cannot when my infant daughter depends on me for her basic need in life. The treatment we experienced today was awful.”
Former Alabama state representative Andrew Sorrell, now state auditor, told CBS 42 that he tried to help in the past. He sponsored HB369 in 2021, meant to exempt nursing mothers from jury duty, but it ultimately failed in committee.
Sorrell vowed to help. “This is a story that we need to actually get something done about this,” he told CBS 42. “The law needs to clearly state that breastfeeding is a valid exemption from jury duty, and then maybe, maybe, put the mom’s name back in the pool after her child’s no longer breastfeeding.”
Since her initial post, Brown has received tremendous support. With Sorrell’s help and that of other lawmakers, things moved quickly. She posted an update on January 18.
“Oh my goodness we did it! God is so good! The Alabama Supreme Court just issued an Administrative Rule Change to take effect within 30 days to protect moms from jury duty who are breastfeeding!!!” she shared on Facebook. “I want to thank State Auditor Andrew Sorrell over and over! I would have never known how to begin to make this happen and his immediate help and hard work got it done.”
