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By Judge Robert J. Morris, Jr.
It has been well documented that fewer and
fewer Americans who are eligible to vote exercise their right to do
so. As our population continues to swell, we feel evermore removed
from the officials we elect and empower to decide the issues of the
day for us. In a representative form of democracy, such as ours, it
is comforting to have some connection with the person you must
trust to advocate for you on taxes, national security, education,
crime and punishment, and other such weighty matters. However, very
few of us have this privilege.
Unfortunately, it is not realistic in such
a populous nation to actually know or be able to communicate
directly with the elected officials who are charged with
considering our best interests when voting on issues of critical
importance to us. All too often the American voter feels betrayed
by elected officials. Voters believe (whether correctly or not) the
officials often vote the wrong way because they didn’t really
know how the voters felt. This disenfranchisement naturally leads
to mistrust, apathy and indifference.
The constitutional mandate of separation
of powers provides that laws are made in the legislative branch of
government, enforced in the executive branch of government and
interpreted and applied in the judicial branch of government. While
we are required to have faith in our duly elected representatives
in the legislative and executive branches to make the right call,
ordinary citizens are the decision-makers in the judicial branch.
Each week, thousand of citizens report for jury service in
courthouses in the cities, villages and towns all across America.
Those citizens are empanelled in juries for both criminal and civil
trials with one clear mission: to decide whether the defendant is
guilty or not.
While the judge instructs the jury on the
law, it is the jury — and the jury alone — that decides
what witnesses were telling the truth and which ones weren’t,
what evidence was believable and which wasn’t, and whether
the ultimate verdict is to be guilty or not guilty. The jury, not
the judge, makes the ultimate call in a trial. The genius of our
nation’s founders was, and is, that while we may be willing
to trust others to make and enforce our laws, we trust no one,
except a jury of our peers, to deprive a person of life, liberty or
property. If you don’t like what is happening in the trial
courts of America, you have no one to blame but yourself if you
have dodged the call of jury duty. If you want a direct hand in the
functioning of government, respond to the call for jury service.
You can be the decision-maker.
An informed electorate is vital to the
proper functioning of a democracy. It is crucial that large numbers
of informed citizens report to polls every election to vote so that
the will of the majority can truly be ascertained. However,
responding to the call of jury service has been said to be the
highest duty of an American citizen. Without jurors, the judicial
branch of government would come to a standstill. Not only would
civil and criminal cases of vital interest to litigants remain
unresolved, the judicial branch would be unable to perform its
critical function of acting as a check and balance on the
legislative and executive branches. It is the courts that strike
down an unconstitutional law passed by the legislature, and it is
the courts that halt the executive branch from unconstitutionally
enforcing laws against individuals in violation of their civil
liberties. Therefore, a free and independent judiciary is the vital
life blood of our uniquely American way of life. It is the courts
— which can only function with juries made up of citizens
— that are, in many ways, the last bulwark against
tyranny.
Indeed, it is a rare privilege to observe
first hand the determination and commitment many prospective jurors
bring to the task at hand. It is clear from their sense of purpose
that they grasp the gravamen of the assignment. While most trials
last a day or two, some can last for days or even weeks and go well
into the night and on weekends. Undaunted, and ever-patient, the
typical jurors will remain steadfast in their mission to hear and
see all the evidence, listen to the instructions on the law and
ultimately decide the case. In all but the rarest of cases, what
the jury decides cannot be wrong. A judge can make an incorrect
ruling on the law, which can cause the case to be reversed on
appeal, but the jury’s verdict is what justice in America is.
The people have spoken.
The 69 judges of the Sixth Judicial
Circuit (Pasco and Pinellas counties) hereby salute, with
gratitude, the women and men who have selflessly responded to the
call of duty to serve on a jury.
Circuit Judge Robert J. Morris, Jr. is
Chief Judge-elect of the Sixth Judicial Circuit.
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