Re:Supreme Court expands meaning of 'seizure' under 4th Amen...
by cgriswald on Friday March 26, 2021 @02:27AM
(#26589305)
I remain unconvinced. It is the law that gives juries this power. Can it be used for what you or I consider bad purposes? Sure. But so can any other power granted by the law. It is generally accepted that powers, both explicit and implicit can be used by the government. This includes elected officials and unelected bureaucrats. I see no reason not to extend the same to jurors.
Re:Supreme Court expands meaning of 'seizure' under 4th Amen...
by JumpCrisscross on Friday March 26, 2021 @02:32AM
(#26589325)
> It is the law that gives juries this power. Can it be used for what you or I consider bad purposes?
The law grants this power to juries under the premise that they behave objectively. If jury nullification became commonplace, I would expect we'd see calls to join the rest of the world in abolishing popular juries. I think that would be a net loss.
Jury nullification is a jury acting on its own accord, without respect to the law.
Overruling unjust punishment is the archetype. The Northern jury nullifying Fugitive Slave Act convictions, for instance. The flip side of that coin is Southern juries nullifying lynching convictions. One can make a value judgement on that not being jury nullification, but it's the same mechanism.