Uncategorized rsconsult | 16 Dec 2009
Photos of activists in Grafton County, New Hampshire handing out FIJA literature this month.
Great work guys and gals!
FIJA Grafton County – December 2009
If you are inspired to do this in your own town, take a look at the links at the top of the page for the Media Catalog, the Library, and tips on Activism.
Jury Nullification rsconsult | 05 Dec 2009
by Russ Emal at LewRockwell.com
Is it true or false that when you sit on a jury, you may vote on the verdict according to your own conscience? “True,” you say, but then why do most judges tell you that you may consider “only the facts” and that you are not to let your conscience, opinion of the law, or the motives of the defendant affect your decision?
In a trial by jury, the judge’s job is to referee the trial and provide neutral legal advice to the jury, beginning with a full and truthful explanation of a juror’s rights and responsibilities.
Jury Nullification rsconsult | 23 Nov 2009
I’m sure many liberty activists out there share the same realization as I do that the federal government, the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, the banks, and the big corporations are all collaborating to centralize, collectivize, and control all aspects of American life and are doing so to the detriment of individual liberty. As was the case leading up to the original American Revolution, this unnatural situation is driving many modern day Americans into poverty by making it impossible for them to make a basic living for themselves and their families, or to even maintain basic sustenance.
As more and more of us become affected by this tyranny, there will be times when an individual has some success resisting it. It then becomes important that he or she share the methods of such resistance so others can duplicate it. That’s the purpose of this communication. I’ve had my liberty and rights assaulted and so far I’ve fought off the attack. Here’s how I’ve done it. Maybe others like you can do the same if your life, liberty or pursuit of happiness is similarly threatened. Continue Reading »
Lunch Break for Liberty & Volunteer FIJA | 18 Nov 2009
Take one lunch break a week for liberty. Get your exercise by taking a walk around the neighborhood on your lunch break, and help protect your rights at the same time. Is your workplace near a state or federal courthouse? That’s even better! Just take a handful of pamphlets with you and share them with those you pass along your route.
You can download brochures from our Library or order them from our Media Catalog. These brochures are great ways to help your neighbors learn about their rights and responsibilities when serving as a juror:
You may also want to review our flyer on Distributing FIJA Literature in Front of Courthouses (PDF) and Professor James Duane’s video Don’t Talk to the Police . Your vote as a juror is your most significant and influential vote.
When you serve as a juror, your vote is one of only twelve and is meaningful in protecting another person and yourself as well from government abuse of human rights.
Function of Juries FIJA | 12 Nov 2009
This is a must read to understand the Seventh Amendment and the role of the Civil Jury.
November 12, 2007
U of Cincinnati Public Law Research Paper No. 07-30
Abstract:
This lecture “The Civil Jury: The Disregarded Constitutional Actor” argues that the significant division of power between the judiciary and the jury should be recognized alongside the separation of powers between the branches and the federalism division between the federal government and the states. While the jury is a separate constitutional actor with important powers, the judiciary and the legislature have not recognized it as such. This has led to the constitutionalization of modern procedures which take away the jury trial right before, during and after trial, including through remittitur, summary judgment, the motion to dismiss and federal caps. This jurisprudence on the civil jury exhibits an odd alignment under which so-called liberal justices may hold a jury trial right does not exist, whereas other so-called conservative justices may hold such a right exists. This appears to result from the tendency of liberal justices to shun originalism, even in the context of the Seventh Amendment where originalism is constitutionalized in the text. Here, the liberal justices should embrace originalism. Moreover, the lecture argues that all of the Justices should recognize the significant division of power between the judiciary and the jury by eliminating modern procedures which impinge this division of power.
FIJA in the News FIJA | 06 Nov 2009
Veteran libertarian civil rights activist Julian Heicklen calls it “an out-and-out kidnapping” when Homeland Security Police forcibly transported him to a hospital where he was injected with Thorazine against his will.
Read the rest of this article by Garry Reed at the Libertarian News Examiner.
Uncategorized FIJA | 30 Jun 2009
Check the forum for upcoming events in your area, or contact the office. There are many FIJA event, speakers, tables, materials distributions, and other activities in conjunction with Tea Party, Fourth of July, Freedom March, and other events around the nation. Join in and be a part of history!
If you are planning an event, please post it to the forum as well, so others can join you and support your efforts.
Thank you!
Uncategorized FIJA | 29 May 2009
Welcome to the new and improved FIJA website! We have changed to a clean and elegant design, but the same great information that was on the old site is included here.
We hope you take a look around and become familiar with our new home.
FIJActivist & Volunteer FIJA | 18 Mar 2009
FIJActivists are needed in every state, even in those states where there are already other FIJActivists.
We have a lot of work to do getting the word out, and we can use a lot of assistance with helping to protect your freedoms through informed jurors. If you have some time to hand out literature, to speak to groups, to write letters, to do interviews, or to help others with these efforts, please contact us! Your support and actions are most welcome!
Have questions? Get in touch your present state contacts, or the FIJA National office. Act for freedom today!
Jury Nullification FIJA | 17 Mar 2009
A Look at the Jury System and Our Participation in It
by Graham Dugas
“Without justice, what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers?” St. Augustine
The jury system is one of the few remaining checks on the system available to those of us who love freedom. We must utilize this tool to the fullest measure if we ever hope to non-violently fight tyranny. Yes, it is a hassle but we needn’t look far to see all the evils visited upon us when this righteous check on tyranny and lunacy is neglected. With freedom comes responsibility. The jury system is the government coming before you asking for permission. In that sense we are not “tainting ourselves by participating in the system” as some would have us believe. Rather it is “The System” coming before us seeking acquiescence and we need not cater to their wishes.
Jury Rights Day FIJA | 05 Sep 2008
Governors from Alaska, Washington and New Hampshire sign Proclamations commemorating Jury Rights Day. Other governors across the nation have signed such Proclamations in other years.
Friday marks the 338th anniversary of when jurors refused to convict William Penn of violating England’s Conventicle Acts, despite clear evidence that he acted illegally by preaching a Quaker sermon. In refusing to convict Penn, the jurors ignored what they knew to be an unjust law. This is known as jury nullification.
By refusing to enforce what they knew was an unjust law, the Penn jurors served justice, and provided a basis for our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, religion, and peaceable assembly. For refusing to find Penn guilty, the judge sent four of Penn’s jurors to prison. Their exoneration fixed forever the English and American doctrine that jurors have the responsibility to decide both matters of law and fact in any case before them. Individual jurors are the last line of defense for people who are prosecuted under bad laws by overzealous prosecutors and court officials.
The Founders intended that jurors would use their rights and responsibilities to judge the law and the facts in every trial, and do justice. The Sixth and Seventh Amendments were included in the Bill of Rights to guarantee that every person brought to trial has Juror Protection.
Juror nullification is integral to our judicial system. It is one of the “checks and balances” of justice required by a free society. An individual juror has the authority to stop an unjust prosecution by refusing to convict. No reason for the verdict is required. Most Grand and Petit Jurors do not know about their authority. Knowledge of this authority must be restored to protect us.
Our Founders embraced juror nullification as necessary to a free society. Nullification is the test that all laws must pass. Juror nullification has been used by jurors throughout our history to “nullify” unpopular and unjust laws, including laws against witches, publishing the truth, free speech, religion, hiding slaves, and Prohibition.
The Fully Informed Jury Association (www.fija.org) is dedicated to educating all Americans about the authority of the Juror. FIJA publishes and distributes educational material but depends upon grassroots activists to inform jurors of their rights and to undertake state-level lobbying or ballot-issue efforts. A proclamation for Jury Rights Day was signed today by Governor Sarah Palin, candidate for Vice President of the United States.
Jury Rights Day FIJA | 03 Sep 2008
For Immediate release
Jury Rights Day September 5, 2008
This Friday, September 5, 2008, marks the 338th anniversary of the day when jurors refused to convict William Penn of violating England’s Conventicle Acts, despite clear evidence that he acted illegally by preaching a Quaker sermon. In refusing to convict Penn, the jurors refused to enforce what they knew to be an unjust law. This is known as jury nullification.
By refusing to enforce what they knew was an unjust law, the Penn jurors not only served justice, but provided a basis for our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, religion, and peaceable assembly. For their refusal to obey the judge’s instruction to find Penn guilty, the judge sent four of Penn’s jurors to prison for nine weeks. Their later release and exoneration established forever the English and American doctrine that it is the right and responsibility of all jurors to decide matters of law and fact in any case before them.
Jurors stand as the last line of defense for people being prosecuted under unjust laws by overzealous government prosecutors and court officials.
The founders of this nation intended that jurors in all cases would know of their rights and responsibilities to judge the law, its application, and the facts in each case, to ensure that justice is served. The Sixth and Seventh Amendments are included in the Bill of Rights to guarantee that every person brought to trial has the benefit of the protection of a jury.
It was understood by the founders that all matters brought to the courts were to be considered by a jury of independent, free individuals, who were not beholden to the courts or government, and who would freely render a verdict based on justice, even if in direct opposition to the courts and the law.
Jury nullification is an integral part of our judicial system, serving as one of the “checks and balances” required by a free society. An individual juror has the power to stop an unjust prosecution by refusing to convict. This fact is unknown to most jurors today, and has contributed greatly to the decline of the authority of the jury in our court system.
Our Founding Fathers accepted the common law principle of jury nullification as an important safeguard for a free society: a test that all laws must pass. Jury nullification has been used by jurors throughout our history to “nullify” unpopular and unjust laws, from laws against free speech to slavery to Prohibition.
The Fully Informed Jury Association (www.fija.org) is a non-profit association dedicated to educating all Americans about their rights, powers, and responsibilities as trial jurors.
FIJA publishes and distributes educational material but depends upon grassroots activists to inform jurors of their rights and to undertake state-level lobbying or ballot-issue efforts.
Governors across the nation have signed Jury Rights Day Proclamations recognizing this right and authority of the juror to render a verdict based on conscience and in the service of justice. This year, Proclamations have come from Connecticut, the State of Washington, and from Alaska’s Governor, Sarah Palin, who is now a Vice-Presidential candidate.
This September 5, private groups across the nation will hand out educational literature, provide interviews, give talks to civic groups, and send letters to their local newspapers to encourage people to learn more about the rights and responsibilities of jury service, as well as to encourage those on trial to demand their right to a trial by jury.
For additional information on juror rights, call the Fully Informed Jury Association’s toll-free line at 1-800-TEL-JURY, or visit their website at www.fija.org. To help spread the word, you can contact your local or state FIJA worker through the list of State Contacts on the website.
The Fully Informed Jury Association is a not-for-profit research and educational group dedicated to informing all Americans of their right and duty to judge both the law and the facts, and to render a verdict based on their conscience and their own best sense of justice, even if contrary to the directions of the court.
Contact:
Iloilo Marguerite Jones
Executive Director
http://www.fija.org
675 words
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Jury Rights Day FIJA | 21 Aug 2008
Jury Rights Day ~ September 5
On September 5 of this year, FIJA activists across the nation will once again celebrate the right of jurors to render a verdict based on conscience by handing out literature, writing letters to the editor, appearing on interviews, and speaking to groups. For more information, go to www.fija.org.
September 5th marks the 338th anniversary of the trial of William Penn – a trial that laid the foundation of our First Amendment Constitutional Rights of Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom of Peaceable Public Assembly. Many Governors have signed Proclamations in recognition of Jury Rights Day.
In 1670, Quaker William Penn of London was arrested, pled not guilty, and subsequently argued against England’s Conventicle Acts, which forbade the practice of religions other than the Church of England. The Judge instructed the Jurors to find Penn guilty. The Jurors’ refusal to enforce a bad law led to the Court jailing and withholding food and water from the Jurors.
On appeal, the right of Jurors to base their verdict on their best judgment and conscience, despite existing law and court instruction, was affirmed, and cemented the seldom-used but important right of Jury Nullification of Bad Law in all our legal systems – the ultimate right of the people to control their government.
These underlying common law concepts firmly establish the fact that Jurors cannot be punished for their verdict. As well, jurors are not required to give a reason for the verdict they render. The fundamental right of Jurors to render their verdict based on conscience is basic to the preservation of Justice, and to our Lawful Society.
Remember:
- Jurors cannot be punished for their verdict.
- Jurors cannot be required to give a reason for their verdict.
- Jurors have both the authority and the human duty to render a verdict based on their individual sense of justice and their conscience.
Receive a free information packet by calling 1-800-TEL-JURY. Visit www.fija.org.
For Immediate release
21 August, 2008
324 words
Contact:
FIJA www.fija.org
1-406-442-7800 aji@fija.org
Iloilo Marguerite Jones, Executive Director
FIJA in the News FIJA | 24 Jun 2008
FIJA on page 40
“Alright… the digital version of Republic is in … this time we went after the experts to get some real solutions to the problems we are facing in America today… and it’s our biggest issue yet and at the right page count to get on the news stands all across the country. However, we’re not on news stands yet but that is the goal.
So, before you browse it at your local convenience store and get yelled at for not buying it, you can immediately iew/download the digital edition by clicking on the link below:
http://www.restoretherepublic.com/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_download/gid,140/Itemid,107/