Full Text of HR0206 99th General Assembly
HR0206 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The right to trial by jury was guaranteed to | 3 | | certain free subjects of the King of England and his
successors | 4 | | by the Magna Carta of 1215, among the first official documents | 5 | | ever to limit the power of
government over individual citizens; | 6 | | and | 7 | | WHEREAS, Over subsequent centuries, the rights and | 8 | | liberties guaranteed by that great charter grew to
safeguard | 9 | | the liberties of all English subjects; and | 10 | | WHEREAS, Royal interference with the right to trial by | 11 | | jury, along with unfair taxation imposed without
the consent of | 12 | | the governed, figured prominently in the colonists' subsequent | 13 | | dissatisfaction with
English rule, which culminated in | 14 | | revolution and independence; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, The First Continental Congress, convened in 1774 | 16 | | to protest further abuses and prepare for a
larger | 17 | | confrontation, declared and resolved "that the respective | 18 | | colonies are entitled to the common
law of England, and more | 19 | | especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being | 20 | | tried by their peers
of the vicinage, according to the course | 21 | | of that law"; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The Declaration of Independence revoked the | 2 | | colonies' allegiance to King George III on July 4,
1776, for, | 3 | | among other abuses, "depriving us in many cases, of the | 4 | | benefits of trial by jury"; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of | 6 | | Independence, member of the Continental Congress, and
| 7 | | President of the United States, wrote to Thomas Paine in 1789 | 8 | | and declared that "I consider trial by jury
as the only anchor | 9 | | ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to | 10 | | the principles of its
constitution"; and | 11 | | WHEREAS, John Adams, first Vice-President of the United | 12 | | States, and Second President of the United
States, reflected | 13 | | upon juries as "the heart and lungs of liberty"; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, John Marshall, Secretary of State, Chief Justice | 15 | | of the United States Supreme Court, and
namesake of the Chicago | 16 | | law school expressed in the Virginia Convention to ratify the | 17 | | United States
Constitution his "hope that in this country, | 18 | | where impartiality is so much admired, the laws will direct
| 19 | | facts to be ascertained by a jury"; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, The late Chief Justice of the United States | 21 | | Supreme Court William H. Rehnquist said in 1979
that "the | 22 | | founders of our nation considered the right of trial by jury in |
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| 1 | | civil cases an important bulwark
against tyranny and | 2 | | corruption, a safeguard too precious to be left to the whim of | 3 | | the sovereign. Juries
represent the layman's common sense and | 4 | | this keeps the administration of the law in accord with the
| 5 | | wishes and feelings of the community"; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the | 7 | | United States, the Great
Emancipator, and self-proclaimed | 8 | | "prairie lawyer" who tried hundreds of cases remarked on the | 9 | | value
of jury service as "the highest calling of any citizen"; | 10 | | and | 11 | | WHEREAS, In 1954, in a decision that echoed through the | 12 | | halls of every school throughout the United
States, Brown v. | 13 | | Board of Education, desegregation of schoolchildren within our | 14 | | schools was achieved,
pursuant to the "Equal Protection" | 15 | | provisions of the 14th Amendment to the United States | 16 | | Constitution,
through the civil justice system; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, Those that pollute the air that we breathe, the | 18 | | water that we drink, and the soil from which
we grow our crops | 19 | | have been held to account through our civil justice system and | 20 | | trial by jury; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, Safety protocols and procedures have been | 22 | | improved for: packaging and delivery of
medicines; |
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| 1 | | automobiles, airplanes, and trains; the toys with which our | 2 | | children and grandchildren play;
the construction and | 3 | | maintenance of our homes and buildings; and countless other | 4 | | protections
have been achieved through the civil justice system | 5 | | and trial by jury; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, Illinois' courts are open to its citizens that are | 7 | | harmed by the actions of another, and to
businesses, which | 8 | | account for 70% of civil case filings; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Article 1, Section 13 of the Constitution of the | 10 | | State of Illinois states that "The right of trial by
jury as | 11 | | heretofore enjoyed shall remain inviolate"; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Recognizing that juries are selected fairly and | 13 | | randomly from the pools of adult resident citizens,
which are | 14 | | cut from the fabric of each of Illinois' communities and | 15 | | represent the strengths of Illinois'
diversity and are without | 16 | | consideration for color, gender, race, creed, religion, | 17 | | socioeconomic status, or
sexual orientation; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, It is this recognition and these strengths that | 19 | | fundamentally empower our citizens, and
ensure that jurors are | 20 | | coequal within the jury box; and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, Citizen empowerment and having fair sanctuary to |
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| 1 | | pursue justice before a jury of our peers in
a court of law are | 2 | | sacrosanct cornerstones of democracy; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The sentiments of these Founding Fathers, | 4 | | patriots, jurists, and legislators are shared by
many Americans | 5 | | who regard the right of trial by jury as an essential safeguard | 6 | | of liberty; therefore, be it
| 7 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 8 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that in | 9 | | order for Illinois' citizens to have fair opportunity to | 10 | | redress their grievances, to maintain a system of justice that | 11 | | lends no favor within its arena, and to insure that the scale | 12 | | of justice remains blind to its pursuers, we declare the right | 13 | | to trial by jury of one's peers be preserved, neither altered | 14 | | nor eroded by those that may threaten it, in accordance with | 15 | | the foresight of our ancestors that safeguarded this most | 16 | | fundamental right.
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