Pubdate: Thu, 20 Apr 2000
Source: Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright: 2000 Auburn Journal
Contact:  1030 High St., Auburn, CA 95603
Website: http://www.auburnjournal.com/
Author: Fred Colburn

OVERTURN UNJUST LAWS

The Initiative process came into being in order to bypass entrenched 
legislatures that refused to respect the will of the people. Because final 
authority rests with the people, big government types were thwarted. Until 
recently.

Now the courts block every initiative passed by the people that runs 
counter to their social agenda. Isn't this upside down? Since when can the 
courts subvert the will of the people?

Take Proposition 215, the medical marijuana initiative, for example. 
Yesterday's flower children are today's voters who recognize a legitimate 
medical need and turned it into law by a whopping majority vote. State 
officials, in a panic, passed the buck to the Washington' bureaucrats who 
decided their law overruled state law. Since when can the federal 
government overrule the will of the people?

Folks, we're in trouble. The 9th Amendment clearly states that the federal 
government cannot assume powers not designated in the Constitution, and to 
confirm it, the 10th Amendment says that all other rights are retained by 
the states, or the people. Freedom, if you will, and the basis of the 
Initiative process.

So what can be done to halt this blatant usurpation of power? Not to worry. 
Our government has been curbed many times over the years. Historically, 
when the ground swell of public opinion turned against unpopular laws, 
juries simply refused to convict. There was a time when people were 
imprisoned for assisting run away slaves. Fed up, the public refused to 
convict and the Fugitive Slave Law was nullified, because the power of the 
jury is absolute and can not be questioned.

The kicker is that even though this principle has been upheld by the 
Supreme Court, they also ruled in one infamous decision, that judges do not 
have to tell juries about their ability to nullify unpopular law. Today, 
they will even put your defense attorney in jail if he attempts to bring it 
up in court. Hence the endless jury selection process designed to weed out 
those who would question the law, and endless jury instructions designed to 
convince jurors to be rubber stamps.

Appalling is the fact that those who are supposed to mete out justice, are 
those who corrupt the system. They have forsaken their oath to protect and 
defend the Constitution, and frankly, they are the ones who should be on trial.

Fred Colburn
Meadow Vista
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