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Today's Constitutional Crisis of Jury Rights

Dear John,

This past weekend, I read a detailed and insightful article by law professor Jessica A. Roth over the status of trials by jury in the United States entitled "The Constitution Is on Pause in America ([link removed])

The entire article is worth reading, but this really hit me:

"As a federal prosecutor told a court in one case that recently went to trial in Chicago, in the COVID-19 era, defendants cannot simultaneously assert all of their rights, because they are “in conflict” with one another. Defendants have to “prioritize” a speedy trial, a trial by jury, or a trial in which the witnesses are physically present. No matter that all of these rights are guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, which states that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury … [and] to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” These rights apply to the states as well as the federal government."

This election season, I've seen the term "constitutional crisis" thrown about more than I have since the political response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.

But this quote really rocked me. The thought immediately popped into my head, "If this isn't a constitutional crisis, I don't know what is."

To be sure I am using the term correctly, I looked it up. While there doesn't seem to be a formal definition of the term, this situation arguably meets the definitions of at least 5 legal experts ([link removed]) consulted by Vox with the same question. 

The common theme seems to be that we are facing a major and relatively unprecedented national challenge that either isn't handled well by the current Constitutional rules or which politicians find politically infeasible to follow. (I think a case could be made for either of those.) Moreover, with trials by jury coming back on line, we are at a specific turning point for the system, after which our jury rights could very conceivably be worse off—perhaps MUCH worse off—for some time to come.

It is crucial for each one of us to be aware not only of what is going on in our own state's and federal circuit's courts that will affect our jury rights, but also be looking around at our neighboring states and circuits. Right now the courts are effectively legal laboratories in which Constitutional experiments are haphazardly being conducted. What happens in one place could quickly be copied in others.

Unless we are VIGILANT and VOCAL, these changes will likely wind up as a permanent finger on the scales of justice, tipping the scales even more in favor of government power, control, and abuse.

I invite you to join us this evening at 6:30 pm Mountain time for this week's 15 Minutes with FIJA Zoom meeting. First up on the agenda this evening is some of the highlights from around the country of where grand juries and criminal trials by jury are resuming, where they are still on hold, and what Constitutional compromises are being pushed by our government to get assembly line "justice" moving again.

Click the orange button to register and you will be sent an email with information for joining the meeting this evening.

Register for 15 Minutes with FIJA ([link removed])

The first 15 minutes are a highly efficient, information-packed session covering jury-related news highlights from the week. After that, you can sign off or, optionally, stick around for another 15 minutes for a live Q&A session. 

For Liberty, Justice, and Peace in Our Lifetimes,

Executive Director
Fully Informed Jury Association

P.S. Try not to be late! I am very good about starting and ending on time to get you up to speed with no fuss, no muss, easy peasy.





P.O. Box 5570 | Helena, MT 59858 US

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