If liberty in America is to endure, it is essential that citizens be educated about jury nullification. During COVID, we witnessed first hand how government is willing to pass unjust or unconstitutional laws in order to expand their powers. Nullification is one of the few tools left to citizens that can curb overreach and protect rights by pushing back within the system. As such, it will become increasingly vital to the survival of individual liberty.
While technology gives government more tools to suppress dissent and violate privacy, they still need juries to convict and punish. Nullification provides a safeguard from such abuse. Government can attempt to persecute political opponents, silence those who speak truth to power or prosecute victimless crimes, but can only succeed with the help of juries.
If juries could not nullify, they would merely be enforcers of the government's will rather than citizens with agency. Nullification allows morality to trump legality to insure common sense always remains an option. Public faith in the justice system depends on laws reflecting community values. Nullification gives the public a voice to prevent disconnects between laws and values.
Jury nullification has a long and proud history in America. The founders of our nation recognized that juries had the right to judge the law as well as the facts. John Adams said that juries should act as a "check" against unjust laws and oppressive prosecutions. Nullification was used by northern juries to avoid convicting people charged with violating the Fugitive Slave Act and later used to acquit people charged with violating prohibition laws. Nullification reminds lawmakers and prosecutors that juries can push back when they overstep their bounds. It's a way for citizens to curb potential abuses of power and defend liberty. As Ronald Reagan said, "Man is not free unless government is limited." Nullification helps limit government overreach and protects our essential freedoms.
While legally controversial, nullification has been upheld as a "right" of juries. The Constitution guarantees the right to trial by an impartial jury. Nullification is inherent in the power of juries to return a general verdict of acquittal. Jurors cannot be punished for their verdicts, even if motivated by nullification. Once a verdict is entered, jurors are protected from any legal consequences. Their deliberations are also private and protected. That means jury nullification can be utilized despite any contrary instructions from a judge. Various Supreme Court justices, including Oliver Wendell Holmes, have acknowledged nullification as a "necessary" power of juries to protect against unjust laws.
Some states attempt to prohibit defense attorneys from actively arguing for nullification or mentioning it directly. But juries can still exercise nullification on their own initiative.
Nullification is not a threat but a safeguard. If juries are as responsible as we have always suspected, they will not abuse their power but exercise it judiciously to curb real abuses of power and protect fairness. Nullification strengthens justice rather than undermining it — which is why it is vital for the future of liberty. As long as governments seek to control rather than serve, citizens must have tools to defend their liberties. Going forward, perhaps no tool will be more valuable than this one.
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