Grand Juries Are Saving Democracy

"The entrance to the Supreme Court building announces "Equal Justice Under Law," but it hasn't felt like SCOTUS represented that American value for quite some time—roughly since Bush v. Gore in December 2000, even more so since gutting the Voting Rights Act in Shelby in 2013, and especially since the John Roberts court declared, in 2024, that the president is immune from punishment for "official acts," even those demonstrably illegal, while in office."

"Meanwhile, an undersung underpinning to American justice has repeatedly emerged as the hero in this second, lawless Donald Trump administration: local grand juries, most famous for the slur that they'll easily indict a ham sandwich. That was never (uniformly) true, but the low expectation of rigor has served to focus attention on the ways these ordinary citizens have courageously stood up to Trump when so many elites, including universities, law firms, the GOP Congress, and six of nine SCOTUS justices, have caved."

"The most recent grand jury victory for democracy came late Tuesday afternoon, when a Washington, DC, panel refused to indict six Democratic Congresspersons, all military veterans, who recorded an ad reminding their military and intelligence community colleagues that they are not obliged to obey illegal orders from their superiors. The stirring ad, titled "Don't Give Up the Ship," merely repeated language common to US military training courses since World War II."

Since Bush v. Gore in 2000, and more decisively after Shelby in 2013 and the 2024 presidential-immunity ruling, the Supreme Court has not embodied equal justice. Local grand juries have repeatedly acted as democratic safeguards by declining politically motivated charges. A Washington, DC panel declined to indict six Democratic members of Congress—military veterans who released an ad titled "Don't Give Up the Ship" reminding military and intelligence personnel they are not required to obey illegal orders, using language from U.S. military training since World War II. The FBI investigated all six; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth censured Senator Mark Kelly and docked his retirement pay, calling the video reckless and seditious.

Read at The Nation