New York Times Decries “Vanishing” Jury Trials

“Trial by Jury, a Hallowed American Right, Is Vanishing,” says a headline in the Aug. 8 New York Times, referring to both criminal and civil trials. We agree and it’s going on right under our nose.

The NYT first page story, by Benjamin Weiser, said the Southern District of New York, which includes two federal courthouses in Manhattan and another in White Plains, held only 50 criminal trials last year, the lowest since 2004. There were 106 trials in 2005.

Judge Jed Rakoff of the Manhattan bench is quoted as saying that “a trial is the one place where the system really gets tested.” Judge Lewis Kaplan noted that his last criminal jury trial was 18 months ago and said, “It’s a loss, because when one thinks of the American system of justice, one thinks of justice being administered by juries of our peers.”

Residents of Southampton, Westhampton Beach and Quogue have just witnessed an eight-year battle over whether an Orthodox Jewish sect has the right to erect an eruv religious boundary in the towns. At no point was it ever proposed that the issue be brought before a jury of local citizens. Billions of words were filed in court and millions of dollars of legal fees were paid. Threats of millions of dollars in legal penalties and costs were made.

The towns and the East End Eruv Assn. recently made a settlement but residents wonder just what was agreed to. The required “lechi” markers cannot be found on any of 46 designated utility poles in WHB and no elected official signed the alleged agreement as required by Jewish law. It was signed by a non-employee outside legal counsel. That would invalidate any claimed boundary. Residents say the deal was something that “saved face” for both sides but has no real value.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Faults System

The legal system is taking a lot of flak lately because of the increasing power of law firms and the courts.

Critics include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which has a $49 million budget aimed at reducing legal costs of business. It published in 2014 "Unprincipled Prosecution," subtitled, “Abuse of Power and Profiteering in the New Litigation Swarm.”

“Unfettered litigation inhibits the creation of new products and companies, kills jobs, and drags down our entire economy,” it says. There are currently 1.22 million lawyers filing 15 million civil lawsuits yearly. The U.S. has 391 lawyers per 100,000 population vs. 23 in Japan and 26 in Canada.

“The U.S is choking on litigation…anyone can sue for anything no matter how absurd or egregious,” wrote Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby May 9, 2014.

Other sites such as Judicial Accountability Initiative Law, the Anti-Lawyer Party, and the site hosted by Dr. Lee Sachs, say the legal system has ceased to deliver fairness and justice to the American public.

The U.S. has the world’s largest prison system—2.2 million people behind bars including about one of 20 black males of working age, notes Sachs.

Lawyers work closely with judges and engage in “an endlessly devious manipulation of words and phrases to get the desired result,” says Sachs. Lawyers “have to make the judge happy first,” he says.

Reporters, according to Sachs, “are little timid people who are afraid of getting fired and who almost never write a story on government corruption unless some other part of the government is officially investigating or prosecuting.”

All of the above sites decry the almost complete disappearance of jury trials. Scranton, Pa., lawyer Marion Munley says justice in the U.S. has deteriorated into a “series of back-room deals.” There are “pre-trials and pre-trials and pre-trials for the pre-trials, benefiting lawyers only,” says the Anti-Lawyer Party.

Courts Are "Unconstitutional, Aristocratic"

The Anti-Lawyer Party says states have "unconstitutional aristocratic courts since their constitutions and/or unconstitutional ‘lawyer systems’ require judges to be lawyers, creating a ruling class which is forbidden by Article IV, Section 4, U.S. Constitution."

The A-LP, in an essay last modified on May 6, 2013, highlights an abuse we see taking place in the Hamptons eruv battle—an endless series of court hearings and motions instead of a "speedy" trial by jury.

Says A-LP: "Lawyers and lawyer-judges created unconstitutional ‘lawyer system’ pre-trial ‘motions’ and ‘hearings’ to have extortionist litigation, which is barratry [litigation for harassment or profit] and is also in violation of the U.S. Constitution as this places defendants in double jeopardy a hundred times over.

"The multitude of pre-trials are actually pre-trials for the pre-trials for the pre-trials for the pre-trials, benefiting lawyers only." Defendants are supposed to have "a trial, not trials," A-LP writes.