Re-posted 6/1/08

Sunday, August 14, 2005

If Patrick Fitzgerald is somehow illegally removed as Special Counsel in the Treasongate proceedings, the grand jury(s) he has impaneled will serve at the mercy of Fitzgerald's replacement, an individual who will have been brought in to shield the Bush administration from criminal prosecution for its many treasons. If that grand jury is aware of their true Constitutional power, it's possible they might stand up, fight, and win a legal battle that is long overdue.

Furthermore, all of us may one day serve as grand jurors in federal court, and I hope this article will educate the reader to his/her true power as granted by the Constitution. For that power, despite having been hidden for many years behind the veil of a legislative fraud, still exists in all of its glory in the 5th Amendment to the Constitution. The US Supreme Court has confirmed and reinforced that power.

Most of this article is going to quote other scholars, judges and legislators as I piece together a brief but thorough history of the federal grand jury for your review. But the punch line is my personal contribution to the cause:

UNITED STATES CITIZENS SITTING AS FEDERAL GRAND JURORS ARE THE FOURTH BRANCH OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

My input into this vital fight is no more than the analysis of a few carefully used words. It only took a small sleight of pen back in 1946 to hide our power, and it won't take more than a few words to take that power back. But a proper overview is necessary for most of you who are unfamiliar with the issue at hand. So let me provide you with some history and then we'll see what went wrong and how to correct it.

HISTORY OF FEDERAL GRAND JURY POWER

I want to draw your attention to a law review article, CREIGHTON LAW REVIEW, Vol. 33, No. 4 1999-2000, 821, IF IT'S NOT A RUNAWAY, IT'S NOT A REAL GRAND JURY by Roger Roots, J.D.

"In addition to its traditional role of screening criminal cases for prosecution, common law grand juries had the power to exclude prosecutors from their presence at any time and to investigate public officials without governmental influence. These fundamental powers allowed grand juries to serve a vital function of oversight upon the government. The function of a grand jury to ferret out government corruption was the primary purpose of the grand jury system in ages past."

The 5th Amendment:

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury."

An article appearing in American Juror, the newsletter of the American Jury Institute and the Fully Informed Jury Association, citing the famed American jurist, Joseph Story, explained :

"An indictment is a written accusation of an offence preferred to, and presented, upon oath, as true, by a grand jury, at the suit of the government. An indictment is framed by the officers of the government, and laid before the grand jury. Presentments, on the other hand, are the result of a jury�s independent action:

'A presentment, properly speaking, is an accusation, made by a grand jury of its own mere motion, of an offence upon its own observation and knowledge, or upon evidence before it, and without any bill of indictment laid before it at the suit of the government. Upon a presentment, the proper officer of the court must frame an indictment, before the party accused can be put to answer it.' "

Back to the Creighton Law Review:

"A 'runaway' grand jury, loosely defined as a grand jury which resists the accusatory choices of a government prosecutor, has been virtually eliminated by modern criminal procedure. Today's "runaway" grand jury is in fact the common law grand jury of the past. Prior to the emergence of governmental prosecution as the standard model of American criminal justice, all grand juries were in fact "runaways," according to the definition of modern times; they operated as completely independent, self-directing bodies of inquisitors, with power to pursue unlawful conduct to its very source, including the government itself."

"[88]"

Rule 7 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (FRCP):

"An offense which may be punished by death shall be prosecuted by indictment. An offense which may be punished by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year or at hard labor shall be prosecuted by indictment..."

No mention of "presentments" can be found in Rule 7. But they are mentioned in Note 4 of the Advisory Committee Notes on the Rules:

"4. Presentment is not included as an additional type of formal accusation, since presentments as a method of instituting prosecutions are obsolete, at least as concerns the Federal courts."

The American Juror published the following

'There was an annotation by the Reporter on the term presentment as used in the Fifth Amendment. It was his conclusion that the term should not be used in the new rules of criminal procedure. Retention might encourage the use of the run-away grand jury as the grand jury could act from their own knowledge or observation and not only from charges made by the United States attorney. It has become the practice for the United States Attorney to attend grand jury hearings, hence the use of presentments have been abandoned.' "

That's a fascinating statement: "Retention might encourage...the grand jury [to] act from their own knowledge or observation." God forbid, right America? The nerve of these people. They have the nerve to put on the record that they intended to usurp our Constitutional power, power that was intended by the founding fathers, in their incredible wisdom, to provide us with oversight over tyrannical government.

And so they needed a spin term to cast aspersions on that power. The term they chose was, "runaway grand jury", which is nothing more than a Constitutionally mandated grand jury, aware of their power, and legally exercising that power to hold the federal beast in check, as in "checks and balances".

The lie couldn't be inserted into the Constitution, so they put it in a statute and then repeated it. And scholars went on to repeat it, and today, as it stands, the grand jury has effectively been lied into the role of submissive puppet of the US Attorney.

The American Juror publication included a very relevant commentary:

"Of course, no statute or rule can alter the provisions of the Constitution, since it is the supreme law of the land. But that didn�t prevent the federal courts from publishing a body of case law affirming the fallacy that presentments were abolished. A particularly egregious example:

'A rule that would permit anyone to communicate with a grand jury without the supervision or screening of the prosecutor or the court would compromise, if not utterly subvert, both of the historic functions of the grand jury, for it would facilitate the pursuit of vendettas and the gratification of private malice. A rule that would open the grand jury to the public without judicial or prosecutorial intervention is an invitation to anyone interested in trying to persuade a majority of the grand jury, by hook or by crook, to conduct investigations that a prosecutor has determined to be inappropriate or unavailing.' [7]

What is the result? Investigating seditious acts of government officials can be deemed inappropriate or unavailing by the prosecutor, or the judge can dismiss the grand jurors pursuing such investigations. Consequently, corrupt government officials have few natural enemies and go about their seditious business unimpeded.

By the way, they made a rule to take care of runaways too, in 1946: Rule 6(g):

'At any time for cause shown the court may excuse a juror either temporarily or

permanently, and in the latter event the court may impanel another person in place of the juror excused.' Now judges can throw anyone off a grand jury, or even disimpanel a grand jury entirely, merely for exercising its discretion."

Now let me add my two cents to this argument:

Most of the discussion about Note 4 to Rule 7 of the FRCP takes for granted that the common law use of "presentments" (as codified in the 5th Amendment) was made "illegal" in 1946 by this act. Nothing could be more false. Note 4 does not contain language that makes the use of presentments "illegal", although it had chosen its words carefully to make it appear as if that is what the legislative branch intended. But let's look at Note 4 again:

"4. Presentment is not included as an additional type of formal accusation, since presentments as a method of instituting prosecutions are obsolete, at least as concerns the Federal courts."

The key word is, "obsolete". Obsolete means "outmoded", or "not in use anymore", but it does not mean "abolished" or "illegal". And therein lies the big lie. The legislature knew it could not directly overrule the Constitution, especially with something so clearly worded as the 5th Amendment, which grants a power to the people which has a long and noble purpose in criminal jurisprudence. But the federal beast legislative branch sought more power to protect themselves from the oversight of "we the people", and in its vampire like thirst for more governmental control, it inserted this insidious Note 4 in the hope that scholars and judges would play along with their ruse, or in the alternative, their ruse would appear to be legally viable.

Let's look at some authoritative legal resources which discuss Note 4:

Susan Brenner, THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY: A CASE FOR GRAND JURY INDEPENDENCE:

"Finally, federal grand juries' subservience to prosecutors was exacerbated when the federal system eliminated the use of presentments, which allowed a grand jury to bring charges on its own initiative. (N35) Now, federal grand jurors cannot return charges in the form of an indictment without a prosecutor's consent. (N36) Elimination of the presentment demonstrates the historical trend towards elimination of proactive features in the grand jury system."

Did Brenner fall for the lie or did she cleverly further it when she said, "[T]he federal system eliminated the use of presentments"? The federal system did no such thing. Note 4 said the use of presentments was "obsolete". First of all, Note 4 is not a law in itself. It is a Note to a law, and the law as written, does not have anything to say about presentments. You see the leap Brenner has made? The Constitution provides for "presentments", then the FRCP are enacted and the Rules therein do not mention presentments, nor due they ban presentments, and if they did, such a ban would be unconstitutional, since an administrative enactment regarding procedure can not overrule the Constitution.

Regardless, it's irrelevant, since the FRCP does not mention "presentments". Note 4 simply states that "presentments" allowed for in the 5th Amendment of the Constitution have become "obsolete", or outmoded, which is not to say that they were "eliminated". Shame on you Susan Brenner. You know damn well that the Constitution can only be changed by an official Amendment to it. Nothing can be "eliminated" from the Constitution by an administrative note.

The use of presentments had become obsolete because the grand jurors were not aware of their power. So the use of "presentments" became more and more rare, and then in 1946 the legislative branch seized upon the moment to make this power disappear by waving its magic wand over the Constitution.

Mr. Root got it wrong in the Creighton Law Review as well:

"Before the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure � which made independently-acting grand juries illegal for all practical purposes � grand juries were understood to have broad powers to operate at direct odds with both judges and prosecutors..."

The FRCP did not make it "illegal for all practical purposes". That's patently false. I don't know if Mr. Root, and/or Susan Brenner, were acting as the magician's assistant, but I can't imagine how these educated scholars could be so incredibly ignorant of basic Constitutional law. Give me a damn break.

But if enough people repeat the lie, the lie appears to be the truth.

But we have it on good authority, the Supreme Court, that the lie has no legal effect.

Justice Powell, in United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 343 (1974), stated:

"The institution of the grand jury is deeply rooted in Anglo-American history. [n3] In England, the grand jury [p343] served for centuries both as a body of accusers sworn to discover and present for trial persons suspected of criminal wrongdoing and as a protector of citizens against arbitrary and oppressive governmental action. In this country, the Founders thought the grand jury so essential to basic liberties that they provided in the Fifth Amendment that federal prosecution for serious crimes can only be instituted by "a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury." Cf. Costello v. United States, 350 U.S. 359, 361-362 (1956). The grand jury's historic functions survive to this day. Its responsibilities continue to include both the determination whether there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed and the protection of citizens against unfounded criminal prosecutions. Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 686-687 (1972)."

The Note 4 lie is smashed on the SCOTUS altar, "The grand jury's historic functions survive to this day." Take that Note 4!

The wonderful irony of the situation concerns the ultimate neocon Justice, one known as Antonin Scalia, who effectively codified the unique independent power of the Fourth Branch into the hands of all citizens sitting as federal grand jurors. In discussing that power and unique independence granted to the grand jury, the United States Supreme Court, in United States v. Williams, 504 U.S. 36 at 48 (1992), Justice Scalia, delivering the opinion of the court, laid down the law of the land:

"'[R]ooted in long centuries of Anglo-American history," Hannah v. Larche, 363 U.S. 420, 490 (1960) (Frankfurter, J., concurring in result), the grand jury is mentioned in the Bill of Rights, but not in the body of the Constitution. It has not been textually assigned, therefore, to any of the branches described in the first three Articles. It "`is a constitutional fixture in its own right.'" United States v. Chanen, 549 F.2d 1306, 1312 (CA9 1977) (quoting Nixon v. Sirica, 159 U.S. App. D.C. 58, 70, n. 54, 487 F.2d 700, 712, n. 54 (1973)), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 825 (1977). ' "

I submit to you that this passage sets the stage for a revolutionary knew context

necessary and Constitutionally mandated to "we the people", THE FOURTH BRANCH of the Government of the United States. Besides, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches, I submit that there is a fourth branch, THE GRAND JURY, and "we the people" when sitting as grand jurors, are, as Scalia quoted in US v. Williams, " a constitutional fixture in its own right". Yes, damn it. That is exactly what the grand jury is, and what it was always intended to be.

Scalia also stated, that "the grand jury is an institution separate from the courts, over whose functioning the courts do not preside..." Id.

And finally, to seal the deal, Scalia hammered the point home:

"In fact, the whole theory of its function is that it belongs to no branch of the institutional Government, serving as a kind of buffer or referee between the Government and the people. See Stirone v. United States, 361 U.S. 212, 218 (1960); Hale v. Henkel, 201 U.S. 43, 61 (1906); G. Edwards, The Grand Jury 28-32 (1906). Although the grand jury normally operates, of course, in the courthouse and under judicial auspices, its institutional relationship with the Judicial Branch has traditionally been, so to speak, at arm's length. Judges' direct involvement in the functioning of the grand jury has generally been confined to the constitutive one of calling the grand jurors together and administering their oaths of office. See United States v. Calandra, 414 U.S. 338, 343 (1974); Fed.Rule Crim.Proc. 6(a). [504 U.S. 36, 48] "

This miraculous quote says it all, "...the whole theory of its function is that it belongs to no branch of the institutional Government, serving as a kind of buffer or referee between the Government and the people." The Constitution of the United States, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, gives rise to a FOURTH BRANCH of Government, THE GRAND JURY. We the people have been charged with oversight of the government in our roles as grand jurors.

And at this critical time in American history, we must, for the protection of our constitutional republic, take back our power and start acting as powerful as the other branches of government.

The law is on our side. So please spread this knowledge as far and wide as you can. We the people have the right and power under the 5th Amendment of the Constitution to charge this government with crimes by returning presentments regardless of whether the US Attorneys or the federal judges agree with us. As the Supreme Court has so brilliantly stated, we are the "buffer between the Government and the people."

Take the reins America. Pass it on. The Fourth Branch is alive and kickin'.

by Citizen Spook

PLEASE REPOST and LINK

citizenspook@hotmail.com

posted by citizenspook at 6:35 PM 0 comments

TREASONGATE:MI6 Chicago Subway Bomb Scare UPDATE

Please see PART 1 and PART 2 of this series for the recap.

On August 2nd, I called the US Marshal's Office in the Dirksen Federal Courthouse and asked for the press relations department. I didn't know whether they had a media relations person, but they transferred me to an answering machine and I left a message asking for information concerning whether or not there had been an evacuation of the Dirksen building on July 18th, 2005. I also asked if there had been any bomb threats or fire drills on that day as well as July 29th.

I've been waiting for a response, but as of today the media relations person has not got in touch.

Back on August 2nd, I also spoke with four other employees at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

The duty paralegal said he was not in on July 18th and July 29th.

I introduced myself as blogger/journalist. The receptionist at the main number for the courthouse was very cagy:

CS: Was there an evacuation at the courthouse due to a bomb threat on July 18th or July 29th?

Female Receptionist: I'm sorry sir, you have to speak to the paralegal.

CS: This has nothing to do with the paralegal, I just want to know if the building was evacuated.

Female Receptionist: I'm sorry sir, I don't know.

CS: Did you report to work at the courthouse on those days?

Female Receptionist: I don't remember sir.

CS: You don't rember if you were at work, or you don't remember if there was an evacuation or bomb threat?

Female Receptionist: I took some days off recently, maybe I wasn't here.

CS: July 29th was only four days ago, can't you remember if you went to work four days ago?

Female Receptionist: No sir, I can't remember. I told you, I don't know. Would you like to be transferred to the duty paralegal?

CS: The whole Red line was shut down. You don't remember that happening?

She hung up.

I then called the US Marshal's office and spoke to a female receptionist there. I introduced myself, again, as a blogger/journalist:

CS: Can you tell me if there were any bomb threats or evacuations for any reason at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on July 18th or July 29th?

US Marhsal Operator: I believe...ah, I don't know sir.

CS: Were you at work?

US Marshal Operator: No, I wasn't here. Let me transfer you.

That got my attention because I thought she was going to finish her sentence, but then she stopped herself.

She transferred me to Melody Waldren, the Supervisor of Warrants for the US Marshal's office:

Tom Flocco did a radio interview on August 7th with WLW 700 AM, a clear channel station. A caller asked Flocco about the July 18th subway bomb story and then related an incident that happened to him on Saturday July 23rd in Chicago.

The caller said that he was at the intersection of Clark and Adams, the block where the Dirksen building is located that afternoon. He said there were barricades up on that block. The caller asked some people what was going on, and they told him, "They're filming a movie."

When he returned from the lake at 2:30 p.m., a large haze of smoke surrounded the Dirksen building. He said two men were standing at the barricades wearing orange vests and they told him to move along quickly as he waited for the light to change. He was under the impression that the men wanted him out of there fast.

I also never received an email from the CTA with copies of the "Customer Alerts" they published on July 18th and July 29th as I requested.

DEVELOPING

By Citizen Spook

citizenspook@hotmail.com

PLEASE REPOST and LINK

posted by citizenspook at 6:28 PM 1 comments

Citizen Spook was spooked....

Citizen Spook is no longer on the run. I was "spooked" at a public library while trying to post to the blog of a heavyweight "left wing" journalist/double agent. This will be the subject matter of a pending Citizen Spook report. This report will expose the Treasongate/Plame outing unlike anything else you have read. Citizen Spook has deciphered the hidden code of Treasongate.

I am now back at home near friends and family in a major metropolitan area where I will be sure to have my mug logged into the system regularly (for obvious reasons). Citizen Spook is a pacifist who renounces all forms of violence. The revolution can be won with words and the law, which is on our side. I believe in the Constitution. I also believe that the majority of our local, state and federal law enforcement services, as well as our military, are brave patriots who will never be corrupted by the tyrannical neocon fascist regime. Unfortunately, the chain of command has been hijacked by an illegal junta, so it is our job to educate our fellow citizens to the law. This is the only role Citizen Spook seeks to play -- educator of laws and facts. There are thousands of public internet access sites within 100 miles of where I live. I intend to use every one of them to bring you the truth, facts and law in simple language.

Citizen Spook

citizenspook@hotmail.com

posted by citizenspook at 5:43 PM 4 comments

About Me

Name:citizenspook

Citizen Spook is a pacifist who renounces all forms of violence. The revolution can be won with words and the law, which is on our side. I believes in the Constitution. I also believe that the majority of our local, state and federal law enforcement services, as well as our military, are brave patriots who will never be corrupted by the tyrannical neocon fascist regime. Unfortunately, the chain of command has been hijacked by an illegal junta, so it is our job to educate our fellow citizens to the law. This is the only role Citizen Spook seeks to play -- educator of laws and facts. There are thousands of public internet access sites within 100 miles of where I live. I intend to use every one of them to bring you the facts and the law. citizenspook@hotmail.com

View my complete profile

Links

Google News

Edit-Me

Edit-Me

Previous Posts

TREASONGATE: The Federal Grand Jury, FOURTH BRANCH of the US Government

TREASONGATE:MI6 Chicago Subway Bomb Scare UPDATE

Citizen Spook was spooked....

TREASONGATE: The US Attorney General's Office AND President Bush Have NO LEGAL AUTHORITY To Remove Patrick Fitzgerald As Special Counsel

TREASONGATE: The Controlling Law, Part 2: THE DEATH PENALTY, 18 USC 794 and the shift from GWOT to GSAVE

TREASONGATE: White House Indicted? - US ATTORNEY'S OFFICE "ISSUES" OFFICIAL COMMENT

TREASONGATE: July 18th Chicago Subway/Dirksen Federal Courthouse Bomb Plot Involving British MI6 -Part 2:CTA OFFICIALS DENY CHICAGO POLICE ACCOUNTS

TREASONGATE: July 18th Chicago Subway/Dirksen Federal Courthouse Bomb plot involving British MI6 assets -Part 1:CHICAGO POLICE IMPLICATED IN COVER UP?

TREASONGATE: The Controlling Law - Big Trouble For The White House Staff.

Archives

July 2005

August 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------