Upholding the Constitution
If you throw a bullfrog into boiling water he will hop right out. Place him in cool water and slowly turn up the heat. The water warms and the bullfrog falls asleep and is soon cooked.
Hitler like to put it like this, "You can't get the people to swallow the whole sausage at once. You need to slice it up and feed it to them one slice at a time."
If there is anything in the Constitution that we feel, as a people, is no longer relevant to our society, there is a legal process allowing us to amend the Constitution. Short of that happening, I will fight to uphold each and every word in that document.
The US Constitution states in Article III that "The trial of ALL CRIMES, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury;". The Maryland Constitution stated that in "In the trial of all criminal cases, the Jury shall be the Judges of Law, as well as fact,...".
The Declaration of Independence stated the failure of King George to provide jury trials as one of the reasons for the revolution. Our founding fathers understood that jury trials where the best protection against tyranny. Over the years, particularly since the early 1970s, the Courts have slowly denied the right to jury trials. They argued that the time and cost of jury trials is not worth it. Mussolini came to power because, it is said, he made the trains run on time. So it appears the question is are we to prefer liberty or for the trains to run on time? I choose liberty.
The Constitution uses the words "ALL" and "SHALL" in regards to which crimes get jury trials. This means that all means all and shall means shall. Currently any citizen can be imprisoned for up to six months without a jury trial for "petty crimes". In the early 1970s the Courts began denying jury trials for parking tickets and trespassing claims against war protesters. Over the years denial of jury trials has been extended to moving traffic violations and other crimes. Currently the standard is six months in jail without the a right to a jury but because the precedent is set, we may find ourselves facing one, two or more years in jail without a jury trial for failing to allow your child to be immunized with dangerous vaccines, refusing to allow your child to receive a mental examination, spanking them, not allow your kids to be taught tolerance of moral unacceptable behaviors, refusing to allow a gender confused male to enter a restroom that your daughter is using, or political incorrect "hate" speech laws.
The word SHALL means that no one can waive their right to a jury trial.
Nowhere does the Constitution grant a power to the Courts to rewrite the Constitution by ignoring plain English by telling us these clear language doesn't mean what we the people think they means. By allowing this process to continue we have no representative Republic but rule by the oligarchy of appointed judges.
Congress and the Maryland legislature continue to pass laws each year. They repeal far fewer. The net effect result is that our society is burdened by a mountain of laws slowly reducing our liberty. It is said that every American breaks at least one law every day.
The jury's power to judge the law, provides a means for citizens to check the power of the legislature. William Penn was acquitted by a jury that had been instructed by the Court to convict him. For he had admitted that he had been preaching an unauthorized religion. Our right of freedom of religion stems from the jury judging the fairness of this law. Freedom of speech, failure to convict underground railroad members, repeal of prohibition, and women voting rights all came to us not by the grace of our elected officials, but from those juries that decided to judge the law as is their right. While there are abuses to this power in some cases, those abuses can not become ingrained as each jury only sits for one case. Whereas, Judges set for long periods of time and can and have adopted views of the law that a detrimental to our liberties.
Sir Winston Churchill, quotes about Jury: The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.
Thomas Jefferson, quotes about Jury: "By a declaration of rights, I mean one which shall stipulate freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce against monopolies, trial by juries in all cases, no suspensions of the habeas corpus, no standing armies. These are fetters against doing evil which no honest government should decline."
“…man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.” Ronald Reagan.