On Wednesday, September 10, 2003, at 03:38 PM, Bill Stewart wrote:
But if you're ignoring jury conscription notices at times that it's not seriously interfering with your business activities, you should go check out FIJA.org. Remember that under the common law, a juror has the power and responsibility to judge the law as well as the facts of the case, even though judges and clerks will generally tell you otherwise.
This means that if somebody's on trial for prohibition violations, you can and should vote Not Guilty if you think Prohibition is a bad law. That's a large part of how the Fugitive Slave Laws got overturned, and helped with the demise of alcohol prohibition.
Of course, if a court figures out that you understand this, and doesn't immediately decide that you're not their type of juror, they'll probably stick you on traffic accident cases or something where there's no moral principle of state-vs-citizen conflict, just a boring who-hit-whose-car kind of conflict.
How would they even know one's views on this thing you're talking about? (I'm not sure I know the name of this thing you're talking about, especially because I decided a long time ago not to carefully investigate this thing you're talking about, and especially not to carefully remember the name of this thing you're talking about, just so that I could honestly shrug and say "No, I don't know what that thing you're talking about is about.") Also, my experience in 1973 with a jury trial (the last time I was registered Republican, the last time I served on a jury) was that the jurors were of course selected for a specific trial. I don't think your model works, where they quiz the prospective jurors and then shunt the un-PC off to traffic court. Basically, one doesn't have to answer _any_ questions until voir dire for the specific case has begun. And then it's best to just play dumb about that thing you mentioned, or find a reason to mention that thing you talked about if one's intent is to be immediately drop-kicked out of the jury pool. (Which ends one's involvement...there is no "stick you on traffic accident cases" exception.) But that thing you mentioned is curious...I seem to have forgotten about it already. --Tim May ""Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined." --Patrick Henry