The Juror’s Right

Unless you are very unusual, you groan when you see the notice for jury duty in with your mail.  I am told that there are some people who actually look forward to it.  But I haven’t met them yet.  Perhaps they just don’t know that being a juror is the most powerful position anyone can hold in our country.

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The Power of the Juror

In a Constitution based system such as ours in the U.S. the lowly juror has more power than Congress, more power than the Supreme Court, even more power than the President.  If they will but use it.

Most jurors are completely unaware of just how much power they have.  The juror is the last, and ultimate authority over not just guilt and innocence.  The juror is the last and ultimate authority over the law and the courts, government, and the entirety of the citizenry.  In 1794 in the first jury trial before the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Jay gave the jury these instructions; “It is presumed that juries are the best judges of the facts; it is, on the other hand presumed that the courts are the best judges of the law.  But still both objects are within your power of decision.  You have the right to take it upon yourself to judge both, and to determine the law as well as the facts in controversy.”

Do you understand?  The juror is the judge over not just the facts in evidence, but the law being applied as well!

Inside the Courtroom

So if jurors are actually the “judges”, what is going on in the courtroom?

When the State or Federal Government, as duly appointed representatives of the citizenry, believes that one or more of the laws of the land have been violated in or of such severity that it requires the State or Federal government to take something away from the defendant; their wealth, their liberty, or even their life, they must bring the case to court and present it to a jury to decide.  The government cannot take anyone’s wealth, liberty, or life, without your consent as a juror.