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Creation of the Special Grand Jury

 

The No-On-E Club states:

"Special Grand Jury. For the purpose of returning power to the People, there is hereby created within this State a thirteen-member Special Grand Jury..."

The language of this statement makes the false assumption that South Dakotans either lost their power or had it taken away - but it ignores the numerous ways the People do wield power over their government and courts.  [Comment: We have already discussed the "numerous ways" (existing system remedies) that generally don't work on their own. The presence of J.A.I.L. will assure the effectiveness of those "numerous ways" or will ultimately provide a remedy that will work. -j4j]

No-On-E continues:

By stripping the judicial immunity that protects government officials and judges, Amendment E "sets them up" because it makes them vulnerable to personal liability for official decisions that some may not like. By creating this "Special Grand Jury," the amendment provides the tools to "knock them down."

Worse, the first sentence of Paragraph 3 carries tremendous weight: by giving this Special Grand Jury the "power to judge both law and fact," it lets the jury interpret the law - and decide whether or not to uphold or reject, ignore or amend a law without having to answer to any branch of government or to you.

It may be shocking to learn that, despite their charge that judicial immunity is bad, the amendment's authors actually grant immunity to this Special Grand Jury.

It's more than ironic that under the pretense of "returning power to the People," the authors want to abolish judicial immunity but shield this contrived new jury with the very evil they claim they're fighting. So what's their real agenda? To weaken the judiciary and the government.

And this reveals the authors' true agenda - not accountability, but the erosion of our courts and our system of government.

The Special Grand Jury is the mechanism by which they attack government officials, judges and ordinary people. It's a kangaroo court not accountable to anyone, but represents the backbone of an amendment that pretends to produce accountability.

 

Our response:

The Club says: "The language of this statement makes the false assumption that South Dakotans either lost their power or had it taken away... "

The statement is not a false assumption, but is in accord with the concerns of our Founding Fathers who anticipated the loss of power of the People when they stated in the Declaration of Independence: "...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

It should be noted here that the No-On-E Club takes issue with the mere existence of such a Grand Jury, namely, "By creating this "Special Grand Jury," the amendment provides the tools to 'knock them down,'" i.e., government officials and judges. We now come to the heart of their argument. They do not believe that government officials and judges should be held accountable for any deliberate violations of law committed by themselves, or for any deliberate violations of the Constitutions of South Dakota or of the United States. (paragraph 2). Yet they swear with an oath to uphold these very documents.

Then they argue, "...by giving this Special Grand Jury the "power to judge both law and fact," it lets the jury interpret the law - and decide whether or not to uphold or reject, ignore or amend a law without having to answer to any branch of government or to you."

They overlook the fact that in every judge trial in this country, the judge decides both the law and the fact. We ask them then, are these judges in these matters free to decide what laws they wish to reject, ignore or amend? In order to be consistent, this is exactly what they are arguing. If a judge amends the law to his own liking, it is this "judicial activism" that is arousing the public's attention nationwide. Amendment E is designed to call such judges to account for "passing laws from the bench." They will also be held accountable under Amendment E for deliberately violating the established laws that are on the books.

The No-On-E Club wants to turn everything around to mean just the opposite, to wit, upholding the law means ignoring the law; enforcing the law means rejecting or amending the law, etc., etc. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" Isaiah 5:20-21.

They fail to realize that in deciding one of our greatest matters, that is, whether a man should receive life imprisonment or face a death sentence, we leave that important decision in the hands of the People. One could make an argument that we the People do not trust judges to make such an important decision.

Now if we the People entrust and endow our judges with the power to make decisions on both the law and facts in every judge trial, does this mean that the very People, who authorized and entrusted these judges to judge on the facts and the law, cannot trust themselves to do the same?  ("Gee," they say, "we never thought of that!" Well wake up, judges and bureaucrats! Where do you think your authority comes from?)

They argue that this Special Grand Jury does not have to "answer to any branch of government or to you."  Gee, I thought our public servants had to answer to us, not we to them. But this is their mentality and thinking that has developed over 200 years-- time does not change the truth. Their words betray themselves and prove they need the learning persuasion found in Amendment E. Their usurpation of power for well over two centuries has turned our government into an occupational force over the People, turning the People into slaves. The purpose of Amendment E, as stated in paragraph 3, is to return power to the People. It won't be easy to undo what has existed for 200+ years, but DO IT we must!  We'll start with Amendment E!

Finally, they say, "...the authors want to abolish judicial immunity but shield this contrived new jury with the very evil they claim they're fighting." Here they show that they are unable to grasp the concept that the People are in control, and not the government we entrust as our trustee. We rightfully criminally prosecute trustees who abuse their power and defraud their trustors. We are the trustor, and our government is our trustee. Everything the trustee does is for the benefit of the trustor, us. "Us" is the Special Grand Jury, we are the People. Speaking of the SGJ, they say "It's a kangaroo court not accountable to anyone." That's exactly what the Special Grand Jury will hold accountable-- "kangaroo courts not accountable to anyone!" The No-On-E Club has it turned around 180 degrees-- that's their mentality resulting from their "long train of abuses and usurpations."  Turn it around, we must!  Let's start with Amendment E!

"This contrived new jury" as they call it, is the People providing "new guards for their future security" as is their duty to do when "a long train of abuses and usurpations" has overtaken them "under absolute despotism." The People, who have created government for their security and benefit, aren't "shielded with evil" but, rather, must provide a new shield (new guards) against the evil of the usurping power that has taken over the People and shielded itself from accountability to the People.

 

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