Grand Window Dressing
The grand jury, formerly a check on prosecutorial power, has evolved into the opposite: a fa?ade that lets prosecutors evade restrictions set by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. A new paper from the Cato Institute explains how that happened and makes some sensible suggestions for reform.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Is it really true that laws (and covenants) were made to be broken?
Since when have grand juries been a check on prosecutors? In the Middle Ages? The idea that prosecutors can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if they want to has been around for decades.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As described in the paper.