A while back, birther lawyer Stephen Pidgeon continued his descent into madness "National Grand Jury" to file a supposed indictment on President Obama.
http://decalogosintl.org/?p=304Basically this was the birther's attempt to get some sort of "legal" action going since all their cases have gone nowhere. Rooted firmly in the Pseudolaw that the birthers and their teabagging tax cheat allies are so fond of, the belief was that a "citizens" court could force some sort of official reaction from the courts and law enforcement
http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=PseudolawRealistically speaking, it was more like getting the National Baseball Association to change their season based on the demands of a couple fantasy baseball leagues. Because the main problems with this entire idea is:
1) There is no legal validity to anything they do or say. In fact, it's a bit dangerous for exactly that reason. Say this fantasy grand jury meets, decides someone is guilty.
Then they realize they have NO authority. The courts don't recognize them. Law Enforcement doesn't recognize them. They have no legal authority or recourse at all. What happens then?
Historically speaking, this type of behaviour leads to Kangaroo Courts, Lynch Mobs, and other forms of vigilantism and extrajudicial punishment.
2) From their start, they had an inherent bias in favour of the birthers claims. Look at this example from Stephen Pidgeon's website: (Bold face mine)
Requirements to Become a Grand Juror
National Grand Juror candidates must meet all of the following qualifications:
*Be a natural born citizen of the United States (born in one of the fifty states of the United States to parents both of whom were U.S Citizens and resident in the United States at that time).
Compare this to this example from Napa County in California:
http://www.napa.courts.ca.gov/grandjury/gj_apply.htmGrand jurors must meet the following legal qualifications:
*At least 18 years old
*Citizen of the United States
Already they've established a level of citizenship higher than what real Grand Juries call for. And what does the handbook for Federal Grand Juries say??
http://www.moed.uscourts.gov/jury/jury_handbookgrandjurors.pdf"SELECTION OF GRAND JURORS
Federal law requires that a grand jury be selected at random from a fair cross section of the community in the district or division in which the federal grand jury convenes. Thus, all citizens have an equal opportunity and obligation to serve.
So the "jury pool" is limited to people who buy into the birther claims on "natural born citizenship". (It's interesting to note Dr. Orly herself couldn't serve on one of these due to her being a naturalized citizen)
And this leads to:
3) Bias. The "jury pool" is drawn from people who accept the birther claims on "natural born citizenship" and already believe the birthers claims and fables. It's certainly not drawn from the community, and the people going in already have a high degree of certainly in the supposed "guilt" of President Obama. Again, from the Federal Grand Jury handbook:
"The oath taken by the grand jurors binds them to inquire diligently and objectively into all federal crimes committed within the district of which they have or may obtain evidence and to conduct such inquiry without malice, fear, hatred, or other emotion."
Whereas it's pretty certain that the people going in for this "National Grand Jury" are doing it OUT of malice, fear, and hatred.
So why do I bring this up?? Because it seems the first of these fantasy "grand juries" met over the weekend in Georgia. And much to nobody's surprise, filed an "Indictment" against President Obama.
http://riseupforamerica.com/"At approx. 4:15 p.m. March 28th in the city of Stockbridge Ga. the people of Georgia returned an Indictment against Barack Hussein Obama!!!!!! 25 Jurists, duly sworn in, heard tesitmony and in a unanimous vote, Indicted the usurper"
Of course, Dr. Orly is pimping this.
http://defendourfreedoms.us/2009/03/28/history-in-the-making.aspx"The first Common Law, Citizens Grand Jury will convene today, March 28, 2009, at 1:00pm EST at 165 Burke St Stockbridge, Ga
Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq will be on phone conference for the trial.
We are attempting to hook this up on Skype Conference
http://www.skype.com If that doesn't work, we have some with camcorders and Patrick Gibson said he will get it produce for later viewing.
Notice the time. They met at 1pm. They decided at 4:15pm. I'll assume that part of that 3 hours and 15 minutes was troubleshooting Skype. Real Grand Juries can take days or weeks to render a decision.
Not hours. Right away this screams kangaroo court.
And Dr. Orly says there will be another one in Texas, and eventually every state.
So how does this fantasy grand jury, with no legal powers to speak of, get their "Indictment" enforced?
Answer - they can't. The whole thing is a great example of the "my mind is made up, hang him" mentality. They believe that this fantasy "Indictment" equals a legal ruling and conviction. When not even a real grand jury's decision would equal such. For all the legal validity this has, they could send it to Frosty the Snowman. It would mean just as much.
First off, most of the birthers wouldn't know the "rule of law" if it jumped up and bit their backside.
Second off, I suspect that neither President Obama or his supporters are doing anything more than rolling their eyes or laughing at the birthers.
This seems to be tied to the "common law grand jury" movement, which it is claimed get their power from Articles 52 and 61 of the Magna Carta</a> and article 1 of the "Confirmatio Cartarum"of 1297. Which sounds to me like these "patriots" are trying to do an end-run around US Law and the US Constitution in order to support their claims. (Pseudolaw again) Ultimately, this "National Grand Jury" thing is sound and fury, meaning nothing. The concern comes from the encouragement that these actions will give to someone inclined towards violence or attempted destabilization of the government.
http://www.1215.org/lawnotes/lawnotes/grandjuryrules.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Cartahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmatio_CartarumIronically though, the worse damage done by these people is to the US Constitution. In their battle cries to supposedly "protect" it, they're ignoring everything the US Constitution - and the body of law established on it - stands for. The fact that the National Grand Jury and the "Common Law Grand Jury" it's akin to, have to cite the Magna Carta - along with de Vattel and the like - shows a disregard and lack of concern for what the US Constitution - and this nation - stands for.
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