HR0206 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0206 LRB099 06146 MST 31549 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The right to trial by jury was guaranteed to certain free subjects of the King of England and his successors by the Magna Carta of 1215, among the first official documents ever to limit the power of government over individual citizens; and

WHEREAS, Over subsequent centuries, the rights and liberties guaranteed by that great charter grew to safeguard the liberties of all English subjects; and

WHEREAS, Royal interference with the right to trial by jury, along with unfair taxation imposed without the consent of the governed, figured prominently in the colonists' subsequent dissatisfaction with English rule, which culminated in revolution and independence; and

WHEREAS, The First Continental Congress, convened in 1774 to protest further abuses and prepare for a larger confrontation, declared and resolved "that the respective colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law"; and

WHEREAS, The Declaration of Independence revoked the colonies' allegiance to King George III on July 4, 1776, for, among other abuses, "depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury"; and

WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, and President of the United States, wrote to Thomas Paine in 1789 and declared that "I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution"; and

WHEREAS, John Adams, first Vice-President of the United States, and Second President of the United States, reflected upon juries as "the heart and lungs of liberty"; and

WHEREAS, John Marshall, Secretary of State, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and namesake of the Chicago law school expressed in the Virginia Convention to ratify the United States Constitution his "hope that in this country, where impartiality is so much admired, the laws will direct facts to be ascertained by a jury"; and

WHEREAS, The late Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court William H. Rehnquist said in 1979 that "the founders of our nation considered the right of trial by jury in civil cases an important bulwark against tyranny and corruption, a safeguard too precious to be left to the whim of the sovereign. Juries represent the layman's common sense and this keeps the administration of the law in accord with the wishes and feelings of the community"; and

WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, the Great Emancipator, and self-proclaimed "prairie lawyer" who tried hundreds of cases remarked on the value of jury service as "the highest calling of any citizen"; and

WHEREAS, In 1954, in a decision that echoed through the halls of every school throughout the United States, Brown v. Board of Education, desegregation of schoolchildren within our schools was achieved, pursuant to the "Equal Protection" provisions of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, through the civil justice system; and

WHEREAS, Those that pollute the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, and the soil from which we grow our crops have been held to account through our civil justice system and trial by jury; and

WHEREAS, Safety protocols and procedures have been improved for: packaging and delivery of medicines; automobiles, airplanes, and trains; the toys with which our children and grandchildren play; the construction and maintenance of our homes and buildings; and countless other protections have been achieved through the civil justice system and trial by jury; and

WHEREAS, Illinois' courts are open to its citizens that are harmed by the actions of another, and to businesses, which account for 70% of civil case filings; and

WHEREAS, Article 1, Section 13 of the Constitution of the State of Illinois states that "The right of trial by jury as heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate"; and

WHEREAS, Recognizing that juries are selected fairly and randomly from the pools of adult resident citizens, which are cut from the fabric of each of Illinois' communities and represent the strengths of Illinois' diversity and are without consideration for color, gender, race, creed, religion, socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation; and

WHEREAS, It is this recognition and these strengths that fundamentally empower our citizens, and ensure that jurors are coequal within the jury box; and

WHEREAS, Citizen empowerment and having fair sanctuary to pursue justice before a jury of our peers in a court of law are sacrosanct cornerstones of democracy; and

WHEREAS, The sentiments of these Founding Fathers, patriots, jurists, and legislators are shared by many Americans who regard the right of trial by jury as an essential safeguard of liberty; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that in order for Illinois' citizens to have fair opportunity to redress their grievances, to maintain a system of justice that lends no favor within its arena, and to insure that the scale of justice remains blind to its pursuers, we declare the right to trial by jury of one's peers be preserved, neither altered nor eroded by those that may threaten it, in accordance with the foresight of our ancestors that safeguarded this most fundamental right.