Since the founding of our nation, American liberty has depended on the resolve of juries comprised of everyday citizens, forcing government to answer to the people when putting citizens on trial. However, recent legislation from Representative Julia Letlow (R‑La) seeks to strip federal funding from organizations that work to educate potential jurors.

A new blog from Mike Fox, a legal fellow in the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice, details how this legislation directly conflicts with the Framers’ intent, writing in part:

Letlow paints this as a defense against ‘rogue’ jurors, but her bill is an attempt to lobotomize the American conscience. She seeks to ensure that the jury box remains a sterile chamber of state compliance rather than a sacred bulwark of liberty.

To diminish the role of the criminal jury is to erase the immense importance the institution has played in the American story; the Framers never intended for jurors to be mere fact-finding bodies that simply went down a checklist. Rather, they viewed jurors as the final line of defense against a tyrannical government.

To speak with Mike Fox further on the critical role juries play in our legal system, contact Cato PR at pr@​cato.​org.