As part of FIJA's educational mission, I regularly spend time digging up documentation of historic jury nullification cases and other related cases in which jurors played a crucial role in the outcome of the case. Though you often hear general claims that jury nullification was quite prolific in the Prohibition era, how often are those claims backed by evidence?
To ensure that FIJA is providing credible, documented information to the public, I set out a couple of years ago to dig into that history and share the results with you and with the general public. You may be interested to know that FIJA has a growing collection of articles backing up jurors' crucial role in undermining enforcement of liquor laws that will soon be posted on the website.
We were honored that Lawrence Reed chose to discuss the Prohibition Era's hero jurors in chapter 21 (very clever!) of his 2016 book Real Heroes: Inspiring True Stories of Courage, Character, and Conviction. He was so kind to give a nod to FIJA in that book as he cited a 1928 case I turned up in the course of my research.
But that one example was just the first of a growing list! While all these stories are not yet neatly organized on the FIJA website, you can learn about some of them throughout the day on FIJA's social media.
How can you get in on the fun celebrating Repeal Day online?
- You can check FIJA's Twitter feed here as threads are posted throughout the day, summarizing various stories of hero jurors who time after time pulled the rug out from under government prohibition agents, prosecutors, and judges as they tried to punish peaceful people. You will even see screen shots of snippets from these historic articles! Your likes and retweets are much appreciated and will go far in introducing more people to jury nullification and its protective role in our legal system.
- You are also invited to join me and FIJA Vice Chair Robert Anthony Peters this evening for a livestream on the FIJA Facebook page at 8:30 pm Eastern/5:30 pm Pacific as we share stories of hero jurors during the Prohibition era, discuss what Lysander Spooner's essay Vices Are Not Crimes has to do with alcohol prohibition, and wrap up with a Repeal Day toast. Please feel free to share this around and invite your friends!
(Yes, I will be sending out a notice this afternoon canceling our Monday evening 15 Minutes with FIJA Zoom session, once I have a link to a recorded session ready to include in it. It would just be too tough to do both today, unfortunately.)
However you choose to celebrate Repeal Day, today is a great opportunity to create more fully informed jurors. Please let me know if you had a chance to do so! I would love to hear your creative ideas for using this day as a "teachable moment".
