TEXAS REPUBLICAN PARTY ENDORSES FIJA LEGISLATION IN ITS PARTY PLATFORM

Texas GOP Endorses FIJA Legislation in 1996 Platform!

The Republican Party, at its state convention in San Antonio the weekend of June 23, 1996 added a plank to its platform endorsing legislation that will fully inform jurors. The platform plank language is:

Jury Reform - We urge the Texas Legislature to pass legislation protecting the right to privacy and security of prospective jurors during the jury selection process. The courts must show the relevance of questions asked of jurors and perform a balancing test between the prospective juror's right to privacy and the relevance of the lawyer's need to know. The Party urges the Texas Legislature to pass legislation enabling an accused party in a criminal trial to inform the jurors of their rights to determine both the law and the facts and to render a verdict according to conscience. We urge the Texas Legislature to reform the jury selection process to ensure that educated and morally responsible people are not excluded as jurors.

The Texas Republican party thus joins the Republican parties of Nevada, Iowa and Montana in adopting a plank calling for FIJA legislation.

Many folks worked for this victory. Special credit goes to Sonya Bernhardt of Montgomery County, and Phil Koehne and Ron Avery of Guadalupe County, who successfully guided the call for the addition to the platform through their respective Senate District conventions. Many more folks attempted valiantly to gain passage at the precinct and senate or county levels, educating Republican activists along the way.

Thanks also go to Billie Zimmerman of San Antonio, David Plummer of Dallas, and Liz Koepp of Adkins, GOP platform committee members who voted for the plank and are on the Lone Star FIJA mailing list. Ken Clark of League City, another LS-FIJA activist, who was initially appointed as a platform member made sure his replacement, David Wright, was educated on the issue. David went on to head the Criminal Justice subcommittee that wrote the plank, and was a vocal defender of the debate on the plank in the full committee.

Only one platform committee member (out of 31) spoke and voted against the plank, Judge Danny Edwards, of Hunt. He presented a spirited attack on the FIJA idea, claiming that militia members, the Freeman, and terrorists adhered to it, asking the committee if they wanted to be associated with them that way.

The rest of the committee offered equally intense responses. One said the Founding Fathers believed in these ideas, too. David Wright said that the Freemen believe in God, but that won't stop him from believing in God either. Another committee member pointed out that Edward's arguments were simply demonization, and invalid.

During the debate, the committee asked Tom Glass, Lone Star FIJA President, to present testimony