A Juror’s Religious Freedom Bill of Rights

The prosecution of Democrat Congresswoman Corrine Brown for campaign corruption was perhaps the most significant and dramatic political trial ever to hit Northeast Florida—and that was before the Holy Spirit showed up and spoke to Juror 13 during deliberations. The Brown case is the springboard for the article’s focus on a juror’s right to religious liberty, one of the nation’s most precious constitutional rights. The Article addresses first principles behind the process of jury selection in the United States, as well as the importance and safeguarding of religious liberty in the U.S. Constitution. It then proposes six tenets to be contained within a proposed bill of rights for jurors: (1) the right to a religious identity (or not); (2) the right to be free from religious discrimination; (3) the right to religious accommodations during jury service; (4) the right to commune with a higher power; (5) the right to religious privacy; and (6) the right and duty to follow the law and not do wrong against others, even for religious reasons.

The Article provides historical context and case examples that demonstrate the need for and exercise of the proposed rights, and it recommends adopting the bill of rights at all phases of jury selection and service.