Gun rights & the Pledge of Allegiance
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By Rex Curry
The issue of gun rights and the Pledge of Allegiance were both at issue in a
case that is headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is U.S. v Wonschik
at http://members.ij.net/rex/pledge4.html. Some law students are writing an
amicus brief to the court and the students are trying to find out how many
judges in the U.S. make the courtroom audience and jurors say the Pledge
of Allegiance. The criminal charge in the case has no allegation of violence
and is a classic example of how the federal government is taking over all
criminal prosecutions from states and doing so by manufacturing jurisdiction
with charges that do not address any actual act(s) of violence, nor any acts
that are the actual origin of the case, but do so by criminalizing
non-violent aspects in ways that arguably violate the Second Amendment and
the right to keep and bear arms, instead of leaving the state to pursue the
intelligent charges involving any actual violence. The federal criminal
charge in the case involves the non-violent act of possession of gun parts.
Here is the message from the students who are doing the amicus brief: "Thank
you for speaking with me the other day concerning an amicus brief that
myself and another student will be filing with the United States Supreme
Court. A federal district judge made the court room, including potential
jurors recite the 'Pledge of Allegiance' prior to the start of the trial. We
want to find out how prevalent this practice is. The question that we would
like posted is as follows:
1) Are you aware of any instances where a judge made the courtroom recite
the 'Pledge of Allegiance' in the courtroom, particularly in criminal cases?
a) If yes, how often did that occur?
b) What court? What judge if known?
c) At what point in the proceedings?
d) Was the jury present? Did the jury have to participate?"
Because the original post was to a specific list, I have not repeated the
student's emails, however I will be happy to forward responses to the
students (email responses to rexy@ij.net) regarding the Pledge of
Allegiance in courtrooms elsewhere.
My response to the students was:
I enjoyed your note re: the judge who makes everyone pledge allegiance in
court. It would be great if you could attach photographs of the original
pledge of allegiance to your brief: see
http://members.ij.net/rex/pledge4.html as well as filling your brief and
arguments with the terrifying origins and history of the pledge.
By the way, remember that jurors today are mostly from government schools,
and that means that not only have they been robotically chanting the pledge
en masse and on cue from the government daily for their entire education,
worse still, they were educated by the government (and that was not
originally the case in this country, and education/schools are nowhere
mentioned in the constitution, and in fact government was taking over
education at the same time that the Pledge was created, and that is one of
the purposes of the original Pledge of Allegiance celebration as described
at http://members.ij.net/rex/pledge4.html). Therefore, all of your
arguments against the Pledge in court are even more compelling for objecting
to government schools and to jurors from government schools. see
http://members.ij.net/rex/schoolsmain.html. After all, we know that jurors
were taught by government in government schools that they are required to
render verdicts of guilty based on evidence in cases where libertarian agree
that they should always render verdicts of acquittal regardless of the
evidence (drugs, medical marijuana, vices, prostitution, gambling, gun
possession, and all non-violent consensual activity that is criminalized) -
cases that should not involve criminal charges at all. A Pledge of
Allegiance in a courtroom is just reaffirming what the government has
already taught the jurors in government schools.
yours in liberty, http://RexCurry.net
Here is an amusing response that was sent in by a lawyer: "We had a D.C.
Superior Court judge who used to do this every morning. All the criminal
defense lawyers (well, all two or three who were in the courtroom at 9:01
am) would mumble 'Objection' and sit there during the pledge. I mean,
pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States was almost like
pledging allegiance to the U.S. Attorney at that table over there. It was a
running gag. The Judge was also the only criminal division judge I ever saw
who would start the day standing with his back to the courtroom. Seems to me
those old Marines often got more guts than brains."
Copyright © 2004 Rex Curry
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