Showing posts with label nullification. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nullification. Show all posts

Tony Newman: Juries May Declare Peace In The Drug War

Liberty's last stand may take place in the jury room. Should juries vote "not guilty" on low-level marijuana charges to send a message about our country's insane drug policies? Jury nullification is a constitutional doctrine under which jurors can acquit defendants who are technically guilty but don't deserve punishment. As law professor Paul Butler wrote recently ... MORE

Paul Butler: Jurors Need To Know That They Can Say No

Saving individual liberty in the jury room. IF you are ever on a jury in a marijuana case, I recommend that you vote “not guilty” — even if you think the defendant actually smoked pot, or sold it to another consenting adult. As a juror, you have this power under the Bill of Rights; if you exercise it, you become part of a proud tradition of American jurors who ... MORE

Feds Declare Advocating Jury Nullification Is A Crime

The heavy hand of the state strikes again.  One of the long-term legacies of expanding the powers of federal prosecutors is that they now are able to criminalize just about everything, including legal behavior. The latest outrage is in New York City, where the feds have charged Julian P. Heicklen, a 79-year-old retired chemistry professor from Penn State University ... MORE

Tom Woods: Nullification - Answering the Objections

In January 2011 my book Nullification became notorious when it was linked to a bill that declared Barack Obama’s health care law unconstitutional and therefore void and of no effect in the state of Idaho.  (Other states have been introducing similar bills, but Idaho grabbed the media’s attention.)  Legislators had read it, the news media reported, and while Governor Butch Otter turned down a state senator’s offer ...  MORE