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# Santa Monica Lame ducks can still inflict damage
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-lame-ducks-can-still-inflict-damage-editor/
- Published: 2007-07-12T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T02:16:14.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Robert Benedetti Santa Monica*

On the day after the Fourth of July, I reported for my first-ever jury duty. A judge of the Superior Court gave the assembled 150 potential jurors a pep talk. She explained the importance of our participation in the legal process, and referred to a copy of the Constitution she held in her hand, and even to the Magna Carta, as she listed the freedoms guaranteed us in return for the sacrifice we were about to make as jurors. She spoke of the presumption of innocence, the right to be judged by our peers, and our protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

She also told us about how, long ago, the government — afraid that sentiment against war promulgated by the Society of Friends was growing too strong — had passed a law banning Quakers from assembling in groups, and how William Penn had gotten himself arrested for leading just such a gathering; how Penn had been tried by a jury of his peers and found innocent; how the governor was so angry at the decision that he again jailed Penn and the entire jury that had acquitted him; and how all had been quickly released because of our most precious legal right — habeas corpus.

As she listed these freedoms — the presumption of innocence, the right to be judged by our peers, protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and the right of habeas corpus — I had to restrain myself from shouting after each, “Unless the president decides otherwise!”

I have become convinced that the war in Iraq is perhaps the least of the damages inflicted on our democracy by Bush, Cheney and their henchmen. We cannot afford another 18 months of this.

There have been calls for Bush and Cheney to resign, but there is no chance they will — as even Nixon did — do the right thing. We must demand that our lily-livered Democratic majority in Congress bring articles of impeachment as soon as possible.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 12, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071207.pdf?ref=smdp.com)