Speed It Up!
We rank an amendment that let's us confront our accusers.
As Americans, we love our freedoms. We have this idea that we can do pretty much anything we want, and no one will come along and toss us into jail.
One way we carry out one of these ideas of freedom is through criminal jury trials. We love the presumption of innocence and the process of presenting evidence. We even follow murder trials that make national news, and we love TV shows and movies that drum up the drama.
Being judged by your peers is a fundamental principle of American values because the government, also made up of your peers, is awful. So, let’s be judged by our peers with juries and ignore the idea that we are getting prosecuted for our alleged crimes by our peers. It can be confusing, but whatever.
One of the ideas we floated out into the world when we declared our independence was that King George III denied us trials by juries. This was despite the fact trials by juries were a thing in England for centuries. We’ve always had a flare for the dramatic, so we threw it in there.
But never mind these things; we wanted our own country and the way we would get it was to break away and begin our own thing with impartial juries and speedy court cases.
This brings us to the Sixth Amendment – the all you need to know about legal stuff – amendment.
Let’s dive in.
8: Amendment XI
Its purpose: Sets rights when it comes to criminal court procedures.
Year proposed: 1789
Year Ratified: 1791
The Good:
I love the confrontation part of this amendment. No one really likes confrontation unless you are a TikTok influencer, and that’s your thing, but for the most part, most of us don’t enjoy confrontation.
But accusing me of something I didn’t do – I WILL CONFRONT ALL DAY!
If I ever got arrested and charged with a crime, the only possible explanation is that I was set up. People are out to get me, and they have conspired with the government to put me away.
Let’s say I was walking around the Capitol building one day, which I do on many occasions because it’s in the neighborhood, to check it out. Now, there are always other visitors around, and let’s say on this trip, there seem to be a lot of people. Maybe you could call it an army of people. Or a mob. They are waving flags, shouting through megaphones, carrying pitchforks, and every day protesting things.
And let’s say this large, loud group of people marches up the Capitol steps and breaks some windows and doors of the Capitol building. It’s probably because they are stuck. But we get in, and we wander around, having a good time, while our representatives flee because we are too awesome to be around. Then, a few months later, the FBI took me to jail, saying I committed insurrection.
I would LOVE to confront those DEEP STATE Marxists who came up with the idea that I hated America when I just went for a walk to MY CAPITOL.
Name another Amendment where you can CONFRONT people? I’ll give you a minute.
The Bad:
Just like the Seventh Amendment, the legal jargon for juries has to be a bit much for a society that has been consuming news 24 hours a day for over 40 years in bite-size pieces.
The appeals process could be a bit annoying. Does anyone think the appeals process is a good thing? I’ve been wondering about this for a bit now. If you lose a court case, you get to appeal. If you lose again, you get to appeal. At some point, a court isn’t going to hear your case.
I don’t know. I guess appeals are only good things if they rule in your favor.
The Ugly:
There is a vast discrepancy between how rich people fight criminal charges and those who are poor.
Poor people are convicted more often than those who make a lot of money. There is a stat for that somewhere, but I’m not looking for it. It’s basic knowledge.
But seriously, the government doesn’t provide the poor with the same resources and competence as a rich person could afford. Not many Ivy League law grads are grabbing all the public defender gigs throughout the country.
Also, something to think about – what’s the incentive for the government to supply defendants with superior counsel? Aren’t prosecutors judged on conviction rate? What if a prosecutor gets whipped repeatedly by a damn good public defender who is just doing this to have their law school loans forgiven?
Who proposed it?
Our dude, James Madison. Here’s a random note - George Mason wouldn’t sign the Constitution unless it had a Bill of Rights.
How about that?
Why did I rank it here?
I like the idea that guilty people can go free if it means that we prevent non-guilty people from being thrown into prison. The speediness of trials is also essential. You shouldn’t sit in jail or have pending legal issues hanging over you for months on end. This is a top ten amendment.
We have a pretty good legal system. There are definitely flaws and unequal justice, but I feel those issues have to do with our peers rather than the system itself.
If there was one thing you could change about the criminal process, what would that be?
Do you think money has ruined the legal system?
Okay, let me know what you think of my ranking.
I mentioned that Anonymous and I took Blue to have a few masses removed from his body. During the surgery, the vet discovered something on his tongue that was concerning. It turns out that concern was genuine, as we learned Blue has cancer.
The good news came on Tuesday when we learned the cancer is not aggressive. Surgery is scheduled for today, and Anonymous has agreed to take him. I, in turn, am being helpful by being out of town for work, so her being agreeable to this task is why it will get done.
The vet has said if I get enough likes to this post, Blue will immediately feel better, so please help if you can. It should be noted that the vet said all of this while wearing cat ears, so take that for what it is worth.
Anonymous will be gone this weekend, so I will pick up Blue tomorrow morning, and we will spend the weekend lying around - wasted. I will be back on Monday with the Maundy Newsletter. Stay warm, everyone. Fall is in full effect.
Finally, thank you to a few new paid subscribers. Thank you all for your continued support.
Okay,
Chris
Poor Blue! Does he have to have more of his tongue removed? That will take some getting used to for him. You're such good dog parents! <3
Oh no!!! So sorry to hear about Blue. I hope his treatment goes well and he’s back to his old self soon.