Criminal Justice Reform
First, We must remember that the Constitution is there to protect us, the citizens, from an oppressive government not the other way around. All too often at the Supreme Court level we hear justices asking what the Legislative branch's intent of a specific law might have been when written. Then they make a decision based on the Interstate Commerce Clause or some other clause in the Constitution that was never meant to be interpreted in such a manner. Apparently these justices do not care and choose to ignore the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. By the way, it reads, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.".
It seems to me the best way to promote sustantial reform both in Federal and State cases is to propose to our State Legislature what should or should not be admissible in court to prevent these 10th Amendment abuses by our highest court in the land. For instance, right now in most states it is permitted by law to allow evidence of statements allegedly given to law enforcement which are not signed or recorded. This allows for the government to be the tyrant over the people by lying in court. Another example of what the states could do would be to curtail the use in courts the bribing of government witnesses for testimony. Currently the Federal Government are able to bribe its own witnesses in criminal prosecutions which breaks its own federal law, Statute 18 U.S.C. 201(c)(2). This statute makes illegal the testimony of any individual receiving anything of value for his/her testimony in a court of law. By petitioning the state legislatures and using state sovereignty we could at least make all convictions more reliable.
Therefor, I plan to start a petition to the Federal government as well as the 50 respective states to enact these changes and others to the court proceedings to ensure fair trials at all levels of government. I have never done anything like this and would like to know any iseas anyone might have here.
