Jurors in Trump's hush money trial are not sequestered, but can they stay anonymous?

The jurors sitting for former president Donald Trump's hush money trial commute home like any other New Yorker after each day's historic proceedings, as the judge has yet to decide to sequester them.

The 12 people who could convict Trump of falsifying business records to disguise a hush money payment that allegedly constituted an illegal campaign contribution include engineers, lawyers, and a teacher, among others. They each answered more than 40 questions to determine whether they could be fair and impartial in deciding the verdict.

Judge Juan Merchan has not ordered that the jury be sequestered in this historic proceeding and is unlikely to do so now that proceedings are underway.

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Will the jury be kept anonymous?

Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom, and sketch artists usually avoid jurors' faces. Trial attorneys could get the names of the jurors, but Merchan has told them to refrain from sharing the names publicly.

But still, some people have apparently been able to put pieces together. A juror initially selected last week was ultimately dismissed because she said friends and family reached out asking if she was one of the selected jurors. Merchan then warned the press about publishing personally identifiable information.

Whether or not to sequester the jury is ultimately up to Merchan. If a judge was going to consider sequestering the jury, he would have warned prospective jurors of the risk at the outset of the trial, according to Forbes. Criminal juries used to be sequestered in New York state, but the law was changed in 2001.

What we know about the jurors

Seven men and five women, all Manhattan residents, make up the jury. During the jury selection process, they shared their occupation, martial status, where they get their news and more.

Both sides and Merchan tried to weed out jurors whose past statements, including years-old social media posts, indicating they felt too strongly about Trump to be impartial.

Any verdict will have to be unanimous.

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi, Bart Jansen