From the December 2001 Idaho Observer:

A Forward to Grand and Petit Jurors

By Gary Phillips

The jury system we believe to be in place in America today was taken from the Magna Carta as outlined by British Jurist Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780). The concept that a jury of one's peers shall sit in judgment of a man's crimes arrived in America with the earliest British colonists who came to the New World in an effort to escape the tyranny of King George III.

Two-hundred and twenty five years later, we have a new King George III. He now calls himself THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

In 1871 the united States of America, a republic, became The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, a corporation (Please note capitalization). At that time our beloved Constitution was changed from being the Constitution for the united States of America to THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The word “of” changed the intent of our Constitution from being a contract that limits the authority of government into a set of rules for the corporation. The post 1871 Constitution has nothing to do with the Republic of the united States of America.

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA guarantees no constitutionally secured rights to the individual but seeks to make all individuals subject to the rules of the corporation.

We, the citizenry, are conditioned to believe that when our public officials, including the courts, cite the “Constitution” to settle some pressing legal issue they are quoting the words of our Founding Fathers and that, therefore, our constitutional rights are being protected.

But are they? That would depend upon which constitution they are referring to.

All of these officials became indentured servants of the corporation in 1871. This being the case, it would only stand to reason they are referring to THE CONSTITUTION FOR THE UNITED STATES AMERICA -- the bylaws of a corporation -- and not the Constitution for the united States of America.

Anyone living in the united States of America should have the right to expect a trial in a Court as provided by the Constitution for the united States of America -- the republic. However, this is not the case. U.S. citizens are tried in courts that were created by THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA -- the corporation.

The corporate court is not bound by the limitations of our original Constitution. The individual will be tried under the rules of “Secret Law.” These laws* are made to look like Constitutional law, but indeed, are based on the corporate Constitution. These laws, most of which have never been properly enacted (that is, were not enacted in accordance with processes described in the original Constitution) are located in a living compilation of such laws called “UNITED STATES CODE.” The original Constitution did not have a code, nor did it authorize Congress, the branch of government charged with making laws, to enact a code.

THE UNITED STATES CODE has become the Constitution. We are no longer protected by the original Constitution. We are subject to the millions of statutes contained in UNITED STATES CODE.

Incidentally, UNITED STATES CODE is private, copyrighted international law.

So where does this leave the grand and petit juries?

It is important to understand that grand and petit juries are the absolute cornerstone of English common law. That is why the forces of tyranny have worked so diligently to gain control of these juries. Some judges have gone so far as to make jurors sign a paper that demands obedience to the judge (judges who attempt to compromise the integrity of a jury in this manner should be taken before the grand jury).

In previous decades the courts knew they had no legal authority over juries and Citizens were taught their rights and responsibilities as jury members. However, children are no longer taught the importance of jury duty and grow up believing that jury duty is an obligation that should be avoided at all costs. The courts and prosecutors have taken full advantage of this omission of civic power and responsibility from public instruction by usurping the people's grand and petit jury authority -- and have managed to turn it against them.

A fully informed and functioning jury as provided in the Magna Carta and the original Constitution was the five-strand barbed wire fence between Citizens and intrusive government. Modern juries are the same fence laying on the ground because the fenceposts were allowed to rot.

The corporation's legal system has determined that it is their right to instruct juries, influence their decisions and determine whether or not grand juries should be convened to bring charges against certain individuals. Officers of the court can quote innumerable cases where judges have upheld their right to control juries. Indeed, it is a standard practice that juries receive their instruction from the judge before a trial so that they can be told how they are to arrive at a decision.

Fortunately, our Constitution does not recognize a judge or prosecutor's authority to take control of the jury, or give them the lawful right to instruct any jury on any matter. The founding fathers and early courts were very vocal about the rights and duties of the grand and petit juries up to, and including, the striking down of laws that were not compatible with the wishes of the people.

The corporate courts, and governments in general, prefer to presume superiority to the people who create them. This presumption is in total contrast to the original construction of our government that was designed to be of, by and for the people.

Is our government not required to be subject to the interests of the people? This question should be brought before a contemporary grand jury for a current ruling. This point was notably challenged in 1800 when Samuel Chase, a prominent member of our Supreme Court, was nearly impeached for attempting to limit a jury's right to look critically at the law.

Sophistry, political promises, government controlled education and welfare programs have all but totally replaced Citizens' understanding of their rights and responsibilities as jurors with the belief that they must allow judges and prosecutors tell them what to do and how to sit in judgment of their fellow man.

This deteriorating situation is exacerbated by an American legal profession that holds the value of money higher than justice.

The American Bar Association, an integral part of the corporation in ways that would shock most people, ensures that the legal profession makes plenty of money by passing endless statutes that they can profitably twist and turn endlessly in corporate courts. Attorneys are also officers of the court. As such, they, too, are servants of the corporation like their judge and prosecutor counterparts; their first obligation is to the court, and not the client.

The only hope for justice is fully informed and properly functioning jury.

The return of the fully informed jury

The return of the fully informed jury will not be accomplished without a fight from the corporate courts that have extorted $billions, perhaps $trillions from hapless victims through disinformed and subservient juries.

Though any grand or petit jury has the authority to demand evidence in law of where the government derives its authority to instruct or influence them in any way, the courts will only be able to supply reams of case law as proof, but no laws. Failing to provide evidence in law, inquiring juries will no doubt face threats and intimidation.

When everything else fails, the court may attempt to “fire” the jury. There is no provision in Constitutional law that authorizes the court to fire a jury.

Demand to see the constitutional authority that provides that a court may instruct or fire a jury. There is none, and they know it! If a jury is able to stand tough it can charge court officers with contempt or seek an indictment against court officers for obstructing justice by impaneling a grand jury to investigate the charges. A grand jury can put prosecutors, attorneys and judges under oath, let them lie, and then, indict them for lying under oath.

The grand jury, once fully informed and functioning, is empowered to follow its own line of investigation in search of evidence that may lead to an indictment.

The jury system was born of necessity as a mechanism to prevent government from abusing Citizens. The jury was, in essence anti-government extremism. It wasn't until recently that juries became “government friendly.” Today's juries believe they are obligated to ask the government when and if they can eat lunch or go to the bathroom.

It appears that the jury system in America has entered the last stages of a reverse metamorphosis.

If it was King George a.k.a. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA's intention to do away with the jury, he has accomplished just that.

Is it too late?

The people of one county allowed their commissioners to do away with the grand jury. After some years the people said, “we want our grand jury back.” They successfully voted the return of the grand jury.

But, one has to ask, “Why did the people have to vote on this issue? They had to run about collecting names for the petition. Once they had enough names, they were forced to dedicate additional labor and expend additional resources to vote whether or not they had the right to provide a function of government that their own county government unlawfully took from them.. How far have we slipped?

In Montana the people have to beg the constitutional authority to set up a grand jury. According to that state's Constitution, the grand jury sits at the convenience and pleasure of the government. Where did these so-called lawmakers get the right to define and limit the people's grand jury? They just took it, and we let them do it. Now, the people believe they must petition the Constitutional authority for the right to vote on an issue that is not defined in the Constitution.

This is another question that should be brought before a contemporary grand jury. A Citizens' grand jury could put an end to the government's ability to control the grand jury.

The Citizens of this nation must be retaught to understand that it is their right and their most important civic responsibility to be a fully informed member of a fully functioning jury. It is because we have forgotten our responsibility to one another as jurors that the fence between Citizens and abusive government has fallen down; it is because we have forsaken our responsibilities to one another that 2 million of our countrymen are imprisoned and millions more have been forced into bankruptcy. The fate of our country and the fate of your friends and family may well depend upon the return of the fully informed jury in America -- the most powerful branch of government under the Constitution for the united States of America.

* “Laws” passed by Congress pursuant to the corporate constitution are actually statutes.

***

Gary Phillips was a career official for U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services until his being subjected to a bogus IRS investigation caused him to investigate the nature of the agency that was persecuting him. His investigations led him to the truth and a life in exile. Rather than be sentenced for crimes he did not commit by a corporate court that rubber stamped the criminal activities of a corporate agency, he left his country. Gary communicates to the remnant through the few publications that understand what has happened to their county.