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A Declaration of Jury Independence

Dear John,

On this Independence Day as we celebrate with BBQ and fireworks, let us not forget that the American Revolution was not fought just over taxation without representation. Key among the grievances that sparked the revolution was ALSO usurpation of the benefits of trial by jury—one of which was jury nullification.

The Declaration of Independence tells the story. 

Dissatisfied with the imposition of taxes without their consent, many people were committing crimes in the course of resisting those taxes. It was difficult for the Crown to secure convictions when resisters were judged by juries composed of their sympathetic and similarly oppressed neighbors—many willing to vote not guilty despite the law having been broken.

Consequently, the Crown sought to circumvent the protection of the jury. It removed such cases from local courts to be heard instead in admiralty courts. Their verdicts were pronounced by government judges with no independent jurors standing in their way by exercising their right of jury nullification.

NEVER let anyone get away with painting jury nullification as an accidental component of the American legal system.

Not only is it there by design, but a war was fought to restore and preserve it!

If you haven't read the Declaration of Independence ([link removed]) recently, I invite you to take a few minutes to read this historic founding document the FIJA website.

Read the Declaration of Independence ([link removed])

Coming Up!

You can continue celebrating, learning about, and defending our critical right to trial to trial by jury all month long by joining FIJA for the following opportunties:

Twenty Million Angry Men: A Conversation with Professor James Binnall
Tuesday, 6 June 2021
12:30 pm Eastern / 11:30 am Central10:30 am Mountain / 9:30 am Pacific

Join us on Zoom ([link removed]) or Facebook ([link removed]).

Why have millions of Americans with felony convictions on their records—many who would not have been convicted had they had access to fully informed jurors—been banished from the jury process? How do felon-juror exclusion statutes impact convicted felons, jury systems, and jurisdictions that impose them?

In his book Twenty Million Angry Men: The Case for Including Convicted Felons in Our Jury System, Professor James Binnall provides the first full account of this pervasive yet invisible form of civic marginalization. Drawing on extensive research, Professor Binnall challenges rationales for excluding people convicted of felonies from jury service and highlights the benefits of their inclusion.

We'll discuss with Professor Binnall how, when it comes to serving as a juror, a history of involvement in the criminal justice system is an asset, not a liability.

James Binnall is an associate professor of Law, Criminology, and Criminal Justice at California State University, Long Beach. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, an LL.M. from Georgetown University, and a J.D. from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He is the Faculty Advisor for Rising Scholars and the Executive Director of Project Rebound: both organizations work to ensure the success of formerly incarcerated students on campus.

Professor Binnall’s research focuses on the civic marginalization of those with criminal convictions, and the exclusion of those with a felony conviction from the jury process. As the leading scholar on the topic, he has testified for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the California Senate and Assembly, and presented his research to the American Bar Association Jury Commission.

Register for Twenty Million Angry Men ([link removed])

15 Minutes with FIJA
Every Monday evening in June
8:30 pm Eastern / 7:30 pm Central
6:30 pm Mountain / 5:30 pm Pacific

These short meetings, held most* Mondays throughout the year, feature a quick 15-minute presentation from FIJA:

to update you on recent jury-related news such as the status of trial by jury during the pandemic, court cases related to jury rights, legislation regarding trial by jury, etc., and

highlight one FIJA project, resource, event, etc. each week

We start on time, pack that 15 minutes with information, and then you can be on your way. Optionally, you can stick around for another 15 minutes for a quick Q&A session afterward. Most sessions last about 20 minutes total including Q&A.

Click the button below to register once for all the sessions in July-September. Then attend as many or as few as you like. (If you previously registered for our April-June sessions, you will need to reregister for the third quarter sessions to continue participating.)

*This quarter we'll be skipping one Monday each in July, August, and September due to holidays and vacations.

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

For Liberty, Justice, and Peace in Our Lifetimes,

Executive Director
Fully Informed Jury Association





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

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