Criminal law

Trial by jury

We call in a jury of the people to decide all controverted matters of fact, because to that investigation they are entirely competent, leaving thus as little as possible, merely the law of the case, to the decision of the judges. —Thomas Jefferson. Letter to M. Coray,...

Fair criminal charging

No collateral purpose Decisions on who to target for investigation should be made solely on the grounds of suspicious activity, never for a collateral purpose. President John F. Kennedy directed the IRS to audit steel executives who refused to comply with ‘voluntary’...

Search warrants

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing...

Police should not manufacture evidence

Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means … would bring terrible...