Showing posts with label court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label court. Show all posts

Juries Were Supposed To Be Able To Overturn Laws

by Clay Conrad.   History is clear. The law is unclear on exactly what a jury is. Juries can range from four to 12 members, depending on the state and case. In two states, criminal juries need not reach unanimous judgments. In some states, jurors can question witnesses. There have even been arguments for so-called professional jurors. Some believe   ... MORE

Robert Gebelhoff: How Powerful Should Our Juries Be?

Justice is a result, not just a process.  In 1986, Leroy Reed faced criminal charges he didn’t understand. A mentally disabled ex-convict from Milwaukee, Reed was charged with illegally possessing a firearm after his parole office discovered that he had purchased a .22-caliber pistol to go with a mail-order private detective course. While it was obvious  ... MORE

Bob Unruh: How Much Power Do Juries Really Have?

Answer: much more than they are told. A case against a Michigan man for handing out informational leaflets on jury nullification in front of a courthouse could impact what juries can do and how much control judges and prosecutors have of their decision-making process. “Freedom of speech is not absolute,” argued Brian E. Theide, who is        ... MORE

Samuel Gibbs: If FBI Wins Case Against Apple, Feds Could Force Apple To Turn iPhones Into Surveillance Devices

Turning our property against us.  If the FBI wins in its case against Apple to help it unlock the San Bernardino killer’s iPhone 5C, it won’t be long before the government forces Apple to turn on users’ iPhone cameras and microphones to spy on them, according to the company’s head of services Eddy Cue. The FBI has demanded that Apple creates   ... MORE

Jury Nullification Has Long History Of Righting Wrong Laws

by Frank Parlato.     Because justice is a result, not just a process. In 1215, when the Barons of England compelled King John to sign the Magna Carta, trial by jury was established. The King now had to seek permission through 12 citizens unanimous in their verdict before he could take anyone's freedom away. That’s why we have jury trials: To    ... MORE

How To Steal $75,000 From The Poor In One Day’s Work

by Jeffrey A. Tucker. A tax-collecting scheme disguised as justice. The new liberality concerning marijuana possession in the United States is long overdue, but let’s not exaggerate how much progress we’ve made. Users might not be ending up in jail as frequently as they did 10 years ago. But cops, judges, and courts still exercise arbitrary power to ruin    ... MORE

Keith Crosby: Stand Up Now Or Kneel Forever

Judge wisely.     In the United States a jury of 12 has much more power than the attorneys or judges want you to know. I urge all who are honored to serve either as a Grand Juror or Petit Juror to study and know this power before appearing to serve. John Jay, the first chief justice of our Supreme Court and a Founding Father, said, "It is presumed that ... MORE

FBI Refuses To Cooperate In Clinton Email Server Probe

by Stephen Dinan. More government stonewalling.    The FBI refused to cooperate Monday with a court-ordered inquiry into former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email server, telling the State Department that they won’t even confirm they are investigating the matter themselves, much less willing to tell the rest of the government ... MORE

House Republicans Get Big Win In Their Obamacare Lawsuit

Court acknowledges the people's house has standing. There’s still another lawsuit against Obamacare working its way through the courts—and it just won a surprise victory. A federal judge ruled yesterday that a lawsuit filed by the House of Representatives against the Obama administration over its implementation of the health law can   ... MORE

Protect Free Speech Inside And Outside Of Courtrooms

Because justice is a result, not just a process.  In 2012, an 80-year-old retired chemistry professor was indicted on jury tampering charges for passing out brochures in a plaza outside a federal courthouse in New York. Those brochures regarded "jury nullification," an option available to jurors who might agree that a defendant broke the  ... MORE

John Stossel: Market Magic

If people need it, the market does it.     People have long lists of things they think the market can't possibly do — from building subways to fighting wars. Sometimes, the market does them anyway. War, for example. Even conservatives, who often praise markets, assume that only government can fight terrorists. Tell that to Matthew VanDyke.  ... MORE

Bob Knudsen: Denver Police Display Contempt For The Law As They Ignore Court Order To Stop Harassing Protesters

Police State America: Court unable to restrain cops. Prominent Colorado civil rights attorney David Lane is asking for a federal court to hold Denver Police Chief Robert White in contempt of court following the dismantling of protester tents outside of the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse near downtown. The dismantling occurred on August 27, two  ... MORE

AP: Federal Court To Hear Challenge To Jury Nullification

Free speech under assault.     A federal judge is scheduled to hear evidence in a lawsuit arguing that a Denver judge cannot bar people from telling potential jurors outside a courthouse that they have a right to ignore laws they believe are wrong. Attorney David Lane filed a lawsuit against the city and Denver police, asking a federal judge to   ... MORE

The Case Against Jury Nullification -- Rebutted

by Ilya Somin, Washington Post.    JUSTICE IS A RESULT, not just a process. In a recent post, co-blogger Orin Kerr offers a thoughtful critique of my and Glenn Reynolds’ recent defenses of jury nullification. Orin’s points have some validity.  But, on balance, I still think that jury nullification is likely to be more beneficial than harmful relative  ... MORE

Explaining Jury Nullification To A Sitting Judge

by Scott Shackford.    I spent a day last week immersed in Los Angeles County's immense judicial system downtown after being summoned to jury duty. My experience was not quite as vividly terrible as Matt Welch's in New York, partly because Los Angeles lets you complete your questionnaire and orientation videos online well in advance, and thus I was   ... MORE

Nullification Is The Answer To Obama/SCOTUS Lawlessness

by Steve Williams.   The dictates of politicians in robes. At least three jaw-droppingly unconstitutional decisions have been rendered in the past two days by The Supreme Court of the United States. Obamacare, which forces Americans to buy a (very crappy) product or be financially penalized, was "re-written"(that is, childishly rationalized) for   ... MORE

All You Need To Know About Jury Nullification (PDF)

(but are prevented from hearing)  What is jury nullification? Jury nullification is the term given to the process where the jury of a criminal case acquits the defendant regardless if he has broken the law in question. The jury would do this in a case where they judge law to be unjust, therefore the jury can vote find the defendant innocent since    ... MORE

Federal Court Deals A Huge Blow To Cellphone Privacy

More warrantless searches for Americans ahead.        The government doesn't need a warrant to search cellphone tower location records, a federal appeals court in Atlanta has ruled. In a potentially wide-ranging ruling, the court said that because cellphone owners technically "volunteer" their location to providers when they       ... MORE

Baylen Linnekin: The GMO Debate Heats Up (Again)

Federal, state, and local laws. The debate over GMOs has heated up again. It's been only a month since I last wrote about the issue. But a host of new developments at the federal, state, and local levels have drawn widespread attention. In Oregon, a heated public hearing took place over a ridiculous and unconstitutional proposed county ordinance,    ... MORE