Obama to skip jury duty in Cook County

The jury pool at a suburban Chicago courthouse will be short one highly qualified prospect this week.

President Barack Obama had been summoned for jury duty at the Bridgeview courthouse beginning Monday. The summons had arrived at the Obama home on Chicago's South Side.

But a White House official said Sunday that the president has alerted the court that he won't be able to make it.

With his first State of the Union speech set for Wednesday, Obama has a busy week ahead.

The president is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former professor at the University of Chicago Law School.