Navigation Be a Seventh Amendment Lawyer
Jim Vickaryous: ‘Every time we insist upon a jury trial for a client entitled to one, we reaffirm the importance of this right in our legal culture.’
James Madison rises from his seat with a bill in his hands at Congress Hall, Philadelphia, ready for debate. It’s 1789, and the U.S. Constitution has only been ratified the year prior. Madison isn’t advocating a pedestrian bill. He will argue for the adoption of a constitutional guarantee of a right to a jury. It’s a portion of what we now call The Bill of Rights. Over the past two decades, the Virginia Congressman’s ideas have helped form a great new nation. He has a lot to lose. Writing as “Publius” in the Federalist Papers, Madison (along with future Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and future Chief Justice John Jay) advocated for and helped create a strong federal government. With the ink still drying on the new constitution, many citizens worry about tyranny from this new government.
In 1789, Madison introduced proposed amendments in the House of Representatives, a compromise that would hopefully keep a possibly tyrannical federal government and its judges in check. He proposed a Bill of Rights, which includes the right to trial by jury and preserves citizens’ ability to resolve civil disputes before a jury of their peers. Democracy in action. Accepting this olive branch, critics of the Constitution joined Madison and his Federalists in supporting the proposal that ultimately became the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment’s text is short.
