The Empire Versus the Two Julians, Assange and Heicklen, and the Anti War Activists

The US government really wants Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. They’re mad at him for releasing video of the military’s murder of civilians in Iraq and more recently a list of sensitive diplomatic cables too long to get into here. A grand jury has been empaneled in Alexandria, VA  to consider criminal charges against Assange. He may never be extradited to the US for trial, but what if he is?

He has many supporters here in the peace community. This includes the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA ) activists  who started a campaign, Julian Assange's Fully Informed Jury, at the website The Point. The campaign’s objective is "If Julian Assange is extradited to the United States, I will do my best to fully inform his jury." Inform them of what you may ask? Of the right of the jury to nullify the law regardless of the facts of a case. From FIJA’s website:

The FIJA mission is to educate Americans regarding their full powers as jurors, including their ability to rely on personal conscience, to judge the merit of the law and its application, and to nullify bad law, when necessary for justice, by finding for the defendant.

The US government is also after a number of anti war activists. The FBI raided their houses and an office in Minneapolis, Chicago, Michigan, and North Carolina last September after sending in an agent to infiltrate and spy on them. Twenty-three people have been issued subpoenas. The first are scheduled to appear before grand juries on January 25, 2011. As this author pointed out in "Jury Nullification May Be The Only Salvation For The Antiwar Activists":

Given that we live in an age when it has been said that "A good prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich." It is sadly very likely that indictments will follow. If this is the case jury nullification may be these activists only salvation.

The prospect of not being able to convict opponents of its tyranny must be terrifying to the government. There is no better way to stop FIJA activists from educating jurors and, therefore, keeping dissidents free than to start charging them with felonies for their activism.  This may be why they are now charging FIJA activist Julian Heicklen with jury tampering. Professor Heicklen is a long time activist and leader in educating juries. He has been harassed and arrested many times for handing out FIJA literature at federal courthouses, especially the one at 500 Pearl Street in New York City where he has to appear for a hearing on January 24, 2011.

According to Professor Heicklen’s website the summons he received was short on details as to when and where he committed the alleged tampering:

…the summons does not include any deposition from the accuser, so that I do not know the specific incident that is involved. The summons states that there is only one charge, but gives no particulars, including a date, time, location of the incident, names & dates of jurors tampered, & how tampered.

Having been to several of these FIJA outreach events with Julian Heicklen myself I’m quite suspicious of these charges. Not once have I seen him tell a juror how to vote on a case. He merely hands out fliers to all passersby. His prosecution can be seen as nothing more than an attempt to squash our efforts to educate juries on how they can check tyranny with jury nullification. No doubt the government will be most upset if they try Assange or the anti war activists only to have them set free by a jury bent on justice. To make sure that happens we have to make sure that first Julian Heicklen is found not guilty. Whatever your political views, show your support for him. Come to his hearing on the 24th if you can. Together we can defeat this tyranny.

Jury Nullification May Be The Only Salvation For The Antiwar Activists

"…law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."

--Thomas Jefferson

The Supreme Court's decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project to uphold the "material support" of terrorism statute (18 U. S. C. §2339B(a)(1)) has truly turned the law into the tyrant’s weapon. In their June 21, 2010 decision they wrote, "Congress and the Executive are uniquely positioned to make principled distinctions between activities that will further terrorist conduct and undermine United States foreign policy, and those that will not." With these words the Supreme Court made a criminal of anyone that has had any contact with an organization on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. This author is astounded at the court’s naiveté in proclaiming that the government is able to make such "principled distinctions". They’ve abdicated their role as guardians of our liberties by rubber stamping this repressive law.

Additionally, for an organization to be placed on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations it need only threaten the "economic interests" of the USA. This criteria is way too vague to have any other meaning than to allow them to designate almost anyone as a terrorist. Had the British had this law on their books they could have labeled Gandhi as one!

Enter the FBI raids on antiwar activists of September 24, 2010. Search warrants were executed in Minneapolis, Chicago, Michigan, and North Carolina against members of left wing groups that had visited with or advocated for either Colombia’s FARC or Israel/Palestine’s Hammas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Subpoenas to appear before federal grand juries were served to up to thirteen people. The individuals and organizations involved maintain that these raids are merely a fishing expedition and that they have done nothing wrong. As of this writing the first of the grand jury proceedings had only just started. Given that we live in an age when it has been said that "A good prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich." It is sadly very likely that indictments will follow. If this is the case jury nullification may be these activists only salvation.

Jury nullification is a well established legal doctrine that allows a jury to find a defendant not guilty despite the fact that they may have broken the law. (This is not to say that the above mentioned activists have done so.) As stated on the Fully Informed Jury Association’s (FIJA) website:

The primary function of the independent juror is not, as many think, to dispense punishment to fellow citizens accused of breaking various laws, but rather to protect fellow citizens from tyrannical abuses of power by government.
The Constitution guarantees you the right to trial by jury. This means that government must bring its case before a jury of The People if government wants to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property. Jurors can say no to government tyranny by refusing to convict.

Since many judges instruct juries that they are required to follow what he or she says is the law, most jurors are ignorant of the real powers they have. This, of course, negates the real purpose of a jury, which is to protect their fellow citizens from unjust law and prosecution.

While we may disagree about many things with the victims of the FBI raids of September 24 and their colleagues, most libertarians stand with them in opposing this oppression and are with them in opposing the US government’s imperial wars. These raids have only one purpose, to silence dissent. We can’t let them succeed. Now is the time to put our differences aside to speak for liberty with one voice, for as they do to the left now they may one day try to do to all dissidents.

The particular cause is not the issue, the principle is. This libertarian is not in agreement with supporting the FARC, for example. However, if private citizens want to use their own resources to support such causes overseas they are doing exactly what we have advocated for many years. Libertarians have said that we should not be taxed and, therefore, forced to fund foreign groups or governments. If someone wants to support something they should voluntarily give their support or money. This is their right and that is all these antiwar activists have done.

We all need to join forces to spread the word to potential jurors if the antiwar activists are taken to trial. Jury nullification may be their only hope against this government’s tyranny.