Top Priorities for the New Congress and the Senate

Top Priorities for the New Congress and the Senate

By T.S.Khanna, January 9, 2007.

Waldo Emerson once remarked that nothing is more powerful than the idea whose time has come. Many great ideas appear whose time comes and stays but they are not even noticed, leave aside testing their power. This is because democracy dilutes the power to a degree that no one in power fully feels the responsibility or faces accountability.

The top priorities of the new Congress and the Senate should be

1. To go through the recently published book, “The Broken Branch”, and make immediate repairs,

2. Take an immediate and substantive, lasting action to resolve the deficit problem,

3. Resolve the foreign policy problems in the Middle East from rational and national point of view, not from the partisan viewpoint of controlling power,

4. Have a rational, non-partisan, thorough evaluation of the Constitution made by an appointed Commission (of nine knowledgeable non-partisan political science professors, journalists and Supreme Court judges) to identify its weaknesses in meeting the present day challenges. Then amend the Constitution as may be necessary,

5. Time and again, Congress and Senate have shown that each is not capable of self-monitoring its ethics, efficiency, and quality of performance. Ask for a monitoring Commission, to be appointed by the Supreme Court Chief Justice, to route out the “corruption culture” of Washington, D.C., and gain back the public trust and respect.

THE JURY SYSTEM By T.S.Khanna, Jan.2, 2007

The Jury System

By T.S.Khanna, January 2, 2007.

From this year the new law will permit the jurors to ask questions during the trial. As a former judicial magistrate and juror, I am pleased to note some movement for improving the jury system. May I suggest some additional points for consideration?

1. The questions of jurors may be asked by the judge without revealing the identity of the jurors.

2. The judge may also be encouraged to actively participate in the case by asking questions and making any necessary clarifications to the jury in a closed session as may be necessary.

3. The jurors may take notes and at the end of the case each juror may be required to write his/her own judgment for evaluation by the judge. This would reveal the quality of thought process of the jurors and evolve means for improving the same from judicial point of view.

4. At the discretion of the judge, a minimum of nine of the twelve jurors in agreement may have the power of final decision, after the judge has critically reviewed the judgments of the dissenting jurors.

5. No juror may be allowed to discuss the case during or after the case. Any meetings with the plaintiff, defendant, their attorneys or the media may not be allowed. Book writing about the case may also be prohibited by law.

6. Introduction to Jury System may be prescribed as a required course for High School seniors to prepare them to serve as quality jurors. Such a course would also introduce judicious thought process for fairness at young age.