Posted on 08/08/2024 2:55:01 PM PDT by ammodotcom
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” – Amendment VI, The U.S. Bill of Rights
(Excerpt) Read more at ammo.com ...
Much like the Fifth Amendment, the Sixth exists to slow down the process of the justice system. This was thought to make it more thorough and deliberate. However, there’s a monkey wrench in the system: 90 to 95 percent of all cases are never brought to trial and are instead resolved through plea bargaining. This is because the system would be clogged up solid if every case were brought to trial. Still, this means 90 percent of all cases are not subject directly to this Amendment.
“Errors, or caprices of the temper, can be pardoned and forgotten; but a cold, deliberate crime of the heart...is not to be washed away.” –Thomas Paine, to George Washington, February 22, 1795
“Silence becomes a kind of crime when it operates as a cover or an encouragement to the guilty.” –Thomas Paine, Pennsylvania Packet, January 23, 1779
“Another apprehension is that a majority cannot be induced to adopt the trial by jury; and I consider that as the only anchor, ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” –Thomas Jefferson, to Thomas Paine, July 11, 1789
“That in controversies respecting property, and in suits between man and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other and ought to be held sacred.” –George Mason, Virginia Declaration of Rights, Article 11, June 12, 1776
“Representative government and trial by jury are the heart and lungs of liberty. Without them, we have no other fortification against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and clothed like swine and hounds.” –John Adams, 1774
“Trial by jury, the best of all safeguards for the person, the property, and the fame of every individual.” –Thomas Jefferson, Letter to A. Coray, 1823
“You seem...to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions – a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our Judges are as honest as other men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps. Their maxim is, boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem, and their power the more dangerous, as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, knowing that, to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions of time and party, its members would become despots.” –Thomas Jefferson, to William Charles Jarvis, September 28, 1820
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed…”
This is a pet peeve of mine. The amendment is crystal clear. In ALL criminal prosecutions…
No, the US Supreme Court said a couple of decades ago. You only have the right to a jury trial if the possible penalty is more than six months imprisonment.
So if the government wants to deny you a jury trial and let a judge decide, they need only charge you with a relatively minor crime.
It stinks.
Like most everyone currently in a position of power cares for that dusty old racist piece of parchment. Nevermind the ability to understand 18th century language nuances much less reading comprehension of the simpler script.
Look at the way they’ve bastardized civil trials. The Constitution is quite clear on that, too.
L
With Donald Trump, the government has targeted all of his attorneys. One went to prison, others were disbarred, others had their officers rated and statements compelled under threat of arrest by the FBI violating attorney client privilege. It’s disgusting. The federal government and the democratic party state governments that did this have lost all legitimacy.
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