NOTE: this blog is no longer active as of 12/07. New one: http://blog.kirchhof.com
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
This is a fine essay that you may find interesting. An excerpt:
Jury nullification also goes back to the very beginning of our country, as one of the crucial rights our Founding Fathers wanted to protect. Our Founding Fathers wanted juries to be the final bulwark against tyrannical government laws. Thats why they emphasized the right to a jury trial in three of the first ten amendments to the Constitution. John Adams, second President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, John Jay, First Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Alexander Hamilton, First Secretary of the Treasury all flatly stated that juries have the right and duty to judge not only the facts in a case, but also the law, according to their conscience.
Folks, there is a place where principled liberals and conservatives in our country can find common ground and truly support one another. If we would all use our brains, know our history, and ignore the content-free bobbleheads on television, it is not a hard place to find.
It begins with something fairly obvious; something that I've spent a lot of time on in this life: know the rules, and ignore, in so far as it is reasonably and responsibly possible, those who would dictate to you what you can not do.
Posted at 09:47 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink] [Reload all] [E-mail]