Since my life-long beliefs in civil rights, the strengths of our government, its process and its public servants have been treated so contemptuously by the GOP, the term “jury nullification” has popped into my head. Here’s the definition: “A jury’s knowing and deliberate rejection of the evidence or refusal to apply the law either because the jury wants to send a message about some social issue that is larger than the case itself, or because the result dictated by law is contrary to the jury’s sense of justice, morality, or fairness.”
If our belief in democracy continues to be shredded by a Supreme Court that gave us Citizens United, decimated the Voting Rights Act and is now about to kill Roe, we may find ourselves choosing citizens’ nullification: a knowing and deliberate rejection of the law because it is contrary to our sense of justice, morality, or fairness.