General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Missouri lt. gov.: We need ‘Anglo-American’ justice in Ferguson [View all]Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)The United States got its court system and rights in court based on the English law. Especially in real property, you have to read English cases from the 1200s about basic rights of landholders. A few tort cases are quite old as well.
If that's what he meant, it's going to get misinterpreted.
Or maybe it was a dog whistle.
It means criminal defendants have rights like: the presumption of innocence, the right to not take the stand and thereby not incriminate yourself, the right to confront your accusers, the right to counsel if you cannot afford counsel in a criminal case (Gideon v. Wainwright) and others. It is the whole judicial process starting with the filing of a criminal complaint and the convening of a grand jury and presenting evidence to a grand jury.